A Total Lack of Quidditch
by PoisonApples and GlassSlippers
Summary: Join the Marauders, Lily and her friends during their first year of Hogwarts. Watch them battle Transfiguration class with McGonagall, understand the rivalry with the Slytherin House, & cry over the fact that first years are NOT allowed to play quidditch.
1. The Letters

**AN:** Written by Lady Adriane of Katherine and Sweets03,l Just a repostage on a different account.

**Disclaimer:** Not ours deal with it

**Chapter 1: The Letters**

_Is This Real?--Lisahall_

James Michael Potter was currently running up and down the stairs of his manor waiting for the mail to arrive. It was part of his daily routine, he had been doing it since his birthday in April. It was now late July and needless to say he was getting a little antsy. What he was waiting for was his Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry acceptance letter.

"James, come to the dinning room please!" yelled Mrs. Potter.

"Coming Mum!" James yelled back.

James then proceeded to run full speed in to the dinning room, nearly knocking over his little sister.

"What have I told you about running in the house," snapped Mrs. Potter.

"Um...not to do it?" asked James

"Exactly, so why are you doing it?"

"Well...um...anyways what did you need," replied James quickly, trying to get out of trouble

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes.

"Well, you need to clean your bedroom and you got a letter in the mail." she said while handing him the thick envelope.

"Oh Mum do I have to clean my room?" whined James

"Yes you do, I have been telling you to pick up everyday or its going to be a disaster by Sunday, so now you have to pay the consequences." Mrs. Potter said with a smile on her face, wondering how long her permanently hyper son would take to remember she had said something about a letter.

"Ugh this is not...wait a minute, did you say I had mail?" questioned James.

"Why yes I did," Mrs. Potter admitted while handing him the thick envelope

All James saw was the Hogwarts seal before he started screaming around the Potter Manor.

Sirius Orion Black was sitting in his bedroom sulking. Once again Regulus, his younger brother, was the perfect son. He had been wondering why his parents hated muggles, muggle born's, and half bloods, so he decided that maybe the answer would be in the library...it was safer than asking his parents. Well after he read all the books that he could understand... he still didn't understand what the differences were...well except the obvious. He decided to face his parents and ask...the conversation ended up with him being grounded and sent to his room.

That was how most conversations in the Black house ended...well the ones that included Sirius anyway. While sitting in his room he decided that books were trouble, and he was going to stay as far as he could from them.

One week later

Sirius was sitting at the table eating his breakfast when the mail came. The owl dropped it next to Mr. Black's plate. He started flicking though the envelopes, when one caught his eye.

"Hmm."

"What's that dear?" questioned Mrs. Black.

"Hogwarts letter."

"...Oh so he's been accepted then?"

"Mmhmm" he replied as he handed the letter to his wife.

"We will need make a trip to Diagon Alley." she said while reading though the letter.

Sirius was watching this through his half closed eyes, too used to being talked about as if he wasn't there to care about it. He wondered if he would actually be able to read his Hogwarts letter...he seriously doubted it.

Remus Jay Lupin was rubbing some cream on his newly acquired gash. He had told his mum that she wasn't allowed to do it anymore, because it was his problem and she shouldn't have to deal with it. The real reason was because he couldn't bare to see his mother cry again. Every time she would heal him back to health, tears would slowly fall down her face, and Remus didn't want to cause her any more pain.

Remus winced in pain as his injuries stared to sting. Tears welded up in his eyes, he blinked furiously refusing their escape. He was sick of crying, it didn't help, it just made his face and eyes red, and his head hurt. Mrs. Lupin walked into her son's room.

"Remus, sweetie, we need to talk." she said.

"No mum, I told you I don't want you in here right now!" snapped Remus.

"Its not about that, you've received your Hogwarts acceptance letter." she said with a smile.

"Are you serious?!" I've been accepted?" Remus couldn't believe it was true.

" Headmaster Dumbledore wishes to have a meeting over tea about your...condition" she said carefully.

Remus too excited to care, simply said "Okay"

Peter Ryan Pettigrew was sitting in his room at the magical orphanage with a pillow over his head. He hated this place, it was his own personal hell. He hated looking out the windows of the orphanage at the mothers holding their sons hands taking them to the Quidditch Supply Store He wondered what it was like to have a mother, or a father for that matter, some day, he promised, he would figure out what happened to his parents.

"Peter, Peter" yelled Ms. Daniels.

Ms. Daniels was the caretaker of the orphanage, she was a older plump women, with a kind face.

"Yes Ms. Daniels?" Asked Peter, it wasn't that he disliked Ms. Daniels, but she had to mother all of the children here , and so he tried to stay out of her way for the most part.

"You got your letter you've been accepted to Hogwarts." She beamed.

"Really?" asked Peter, a smile forming on his face.

"Yes! I'm so proud, I'll let you go shopping tomorrow, and since you're the only child going to Hogwarts this year, you won't have to buy all of your things second hand " she said with a smile

Peter silently thanked Merlin for letting him be the oldest and only kid old enough to go to Hogwarts.

Alyssa Jean Matthews, preferably called AJ, was dribbling the basketball around her "court", which consisted of her driveway with a hoop connected to the garage, when her letter came.

"The game is tied, with 5 seconds remaining , can the star of the night, AJ Matthews pull it off? Yes she can she goes for a lay up and-THUD! Ouch, what the hel-heck was that?"

AJ looked up to see an owl flying off into the distance.

"Damn birds dropping mail on my face when I was about to win the game." AJ kept mumbling all the way into the house.

AJ's mother was making sandwiches in the kitchen for lunch.

"Hey hunny, how was the game?" Asked Mrs. Matthews .

"I lost." AJ replied.

"Hey sis, gotta question for you, how do you lose when you're the only one playing ?" asked a boy with dark brown hair and green eyes.

"Better yet, why would someone admit to it?" asked another boy with light blond/brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Boys, leave your sister alone," said Mrs. Matthews.

AJ rolled her eyes and stomped off to her bedroom which used to be the attic. She sat on her window seat, looking into her yard. Her arms and legs crossed , with her face in a perfect pout. Then there was a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" she snapped.

"It's Jason, can I come in?" asked the boy with dark brown hair and green eyes.

" Oh well since its you, NO!" she yelled the last bit.

"Come on AJ, I've got a present for you." he said knowing her curiosity would win over her aggravation with him.

"I suppose you can enter," she said stiffly

Jason walked into her room, he barely got past the door frame when.

" Well, where is it" AJ snapped.

"Chill here" he said while handing her the envelope.

AJ raised her eyebrow, "an envelope?"

"Just open it," snapped Jason getting irritated with his 11 year old sisters attitude problem.

AJ rolled her eyes and looked at the envelope, then her face lit up and her eyes grew, along with her smile. She ripped open the envelope and quickly read through it. Suddenly she tossed the letter behind her and threw her arms around Jason.

"You are so forgiven," she squealed.

Lillian Sophia Evans was swinging on her tree tire in her front yard when her Hogwarts letter came. The owl had flown over her head on dropped a letter on her lap. Lily looked at it with wide eyes.

"It's the middle of the day, and an OWL dropped mail on me?" she mumbled to herself.

With shaking hands she picked it up.

To Lily Evans

2nd door on the left

Little Whining, Surrey

She turned it over slowly and noticed the wax seal, it had a lion, a snake, a badger, and a eagle. She broke the seal carefully as if not to rip the envelope. Lily pulled out two papers. She silently read though the first piece of paper.

Dear Ms. Evans,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Lily's eyes grew even bigger, then she did the what any sensible 11 year old would do.

"MUM!"

She ran inside and made a beeline for the kitchen were she knew her mum would be making sandwiches.

"What is it sweetie?" questioned Mrs. Evans.

"An owl dropped a letter on my lap!" yelled Lily.

Mrs. Evans Raised an eyebrow.

"Now Lily, You've never been one for lying-" Lily cut her mother off.

"It isn't a lie look," Lily pointed at the owl that had now flown to the window sill. Mrs. Evans still looked skeptical.

"Ugh, here" said Lily shoving the letter into her mother's hands. After she had finished reading though it, she then did what any respectable mother of two would do.

"Benji!" she screamed

lily rolled her eyes, like her Dad was going to understand it any better than they were.

"Rose what is it ?" said Lily's dad while rushing into the kitchen.

" Read this," said Rose quickly.

"Read what?" asked Mr. Evans

"What do you mean 'read what' the letter of course," said Mrs. Evans frantically.

Mr. Evans still had a confused look upon his face. Lily rolled her eyes for the second time that day and plucked the letter out of her mothers grasp and handed it to her father.

"Would this be the letter you want me to read?" Questioned Mr. Evans with a smirk.

"Oh yes, well, uh. . . Don't get smart with me, and read," said Mrs. Evans slightly flustered.

Like his wife and daughter, Mr. Evanseys grew as he read the letter.

"Well, uh . . . I have no idea,"finished Mr. Evans

"Look," said Lily

"What is it dear?" asked Mrs. Evans

Lily pointed to the letter were words started appearing stating that a guide would be by tomorrow afternoon to explain everything.

"Well if somebody comes along, then we'll, well I don't know, see if it's true," said Mrs. Evans looking like she was trying to convince herself more than her daughter and husband.

"You mean it could be true?" asked Lily anxiously.

" Don't get your hopes up dear, it is most likely a prank ," said Mr. Evans.

Lily barely head her father, all she could think of is that she was a witch.

Kayleigh Dawn Rocchi was sitting in the middle of her library with her legs crossed and surrounded by many books. She was reading about a muggle invention called the microwave when the library door opened.

"Excuse me miss," said a house elf.

"Yes Lizzie," said Kayleigh not looking up from her book.

"Your parents told me to send you this," said Lizzy holding up a silver platter with an envelope on it.

Kayleigh lifted her light blue eyes from her book and looked at the house elf.

"Bring it here please." said Kayleigh

The house elf walked over and held the envelope up. She automatically knew it was her Hogwarts letter, but she opened it up anyway. She quickly read though it.

"Lizzie please tell Mother and Father that I have been accepted, and that we need to go to Diagon Ally some time soon," said Kayleigh while going back to her books.

"Yes miss."

Michelle Paige Jones was painting her bedroom walls a chaos of colors when a tapping on her window startled her. She looked over to it and saw and owl. Michelle raised her eyebrow then shrugged and walked over the window and opened it. The owl flew in and landed on her bed and dropped the envelope. Michelle bounced over to her unmade bed and picked it up. She slowly opened the envelope, so to not rip anything inside only pausing to look at the red wax seal. She read though the letter quickly and when she was done she had a confused look upon her young innocent face.

"I'm a witch?" she mumbled to her self.

"Michelle, sweetie, lunch is ready," said Mrs. Jones opening the door.

"Hey , mum look what I got," said Michelle.

Her mother walked in, sat on her bed and took the letter from her 11 year old daughter. Like the Evans family when she finished a note appeared saying a guide would help explain everything tomorrow.

"Well Mum, what do you figure?" questioned Michelle.

"Um, well, it seems real enough, I guess we'll find out more tomorrow," replied Mrs. Jones, thinking that it was five o' clock somewhere and a glass of wine was needed.


	2. The Train

**AN: **Here's chapter 2 out of the 5 that are already written...

**Disclaimer: **Once again, not ours.

**Chapter 2: The Train**

_Our Little Group Has Always Been, And Always Will Until The End..._

_Smells Like Teen Spirit--Nirvana_

"James Potter! Are you listening to me?" snapped his mother

"Of course mum," said James his wide eyes completing his 'innocent face' that he perfected so long ago.

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes.

"Now James, I have put up with your fondness of pulling pranks for some time now, but your school won't. It is time for you to focus on your studies."

"Okay mum, I'll try to be good," said James with a smile, but crossed his fingers behind his back.

Lily Evans walked though the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, like her guide had told her to do. Slightly nervous at the idea of going though a brick wall. When she succeeded she looked around station in awe. Children and teenagers saying goodbye to parents and hello to their friends. She automatically started looking for Michelle's red hair. They had met when the guide, who happened to be the deputy headmistress Professor McGonagall, , had taken both of their families to Diagon Alley.

Lily liked Michelle from the beginning, she may have been a little spastic, but she was very nice.

"Lily! Lily!" yelled a voice.

Lily flipped around and smiled at Michelle's small figure running toward her. Michelle threw her arms around the other red head.

"Oh how have you been?" questioned Michelle.

"Great, how 'bout you?" replied Lily.

"Pretty good. I guess we should get on the train huh?" said Michelle.

"Probably."

Lily and Michelle searched for an empty compartment, but the closest they came to was occupied with a girl who looked about there age with dark brown hair and light blue eyes.

"Hello, do you mind if we sit here?" asked Lily.

The girl looked up from her book and nodded.

"Yes, please come in," she said.

The two red heads walked in.

"My names is Lily Evans and this is Michelle Jones," said Lily trying to start some sort of conversation.

The girl with dark brown hair once again lifted her head from her book .

"My name is Kayleigh Rocchi," she said simply before returning back to her book.

Lily looked at Michelle, who just shrugged.

Suddenly a girl with light brown/blonde hair flew into the compartment, her chocolate brown eyes wide with mischief.

"Do you mind if I hide out here? I just embarrassed my oldest brother in font of some girls and he's on a warpath," she said quickly.

Lily looked at Kayleigh who shrugged in saying that she didn't mind and Michelle had already nodded to it so Lily invited her in.

"Thanks, the name is AJ Matthews," she said.

"AJ?" questioned Kayleigh finally speaking up.

"Yeah my real name is Alyssa Jean Matthews but I hate it, so AJ it is." AJ explained.

"Oh, I'm Kayleigh Rocchi."

"I'm Michelle Jones and this is Lily Evans."

"Nice to meet you all,"said AJ with a grin.

Remus Lupin looked out his compartment window, his hands fidgeting in his lap, his mind racing with questions about the next seven years when the compartment door opened and a boy with messy jet black hair and glasses walked through.

"Do you mind if I sit here, my mum was lecturing me too long and I can't find a compartment," he said.

"Sure, my name is Remus Lupin," said the amber eyed boy.

"Potter, James Potter," said the other boy while extending his hand to shake.

"Are you a first year too?" asked James while shanking the lighter toned boys hand.

"Yeah, kinda nervous, but still excited," relied Remus.

"Im just excited so many pranks that can be pulled in that school and numerous victims," said James while grinning.

"Prankster?" Questioned Remus.

"Oh yeah, how 'bout you?" asked James

"Eh, not so much, but I've never really thought about it," Replied Remus.

"Oh man, I've got a book for beginners, would you like to borrow it?"

"There are books for pranks," asked Remus in disbelief

''Yeah, they are the only thing I read, well that and quidditch books of course," said James while digging though his trunk looking for the book.

"Ah ha! Found it!" an excited James exclaimed.

Remus' eyes widened at the sudden volume change. James tossed him the book and started bouncing in his seat, waiting for Remus to start reading.

"This stuff is amazing," said Remus in awe.

"I know, unfortunately, a lot of the pranks require more than one person, so that's why I haven't been able to get to them," James said looking sad.

Remus was amazed, not only had he had a conversation with someone his age, but it was almost like they were friends. Now he wasn't going to kid himself, he knew it wouldn't last, but for right now it was nice.

"Hey do you want to try a pranks maybe?" asked James.

"...okay," agreed Remus, "What do you want to do."

James pulled out a small white rat from his trunk.

"Magical rat, very durable, that's why I got it," said James after looking at Remus' confused face.

"A rat?" Remus was still confused.

"As you may or may not know, a rat is one of the only creatures that can scare a girl without it actually being dangerous," James said like it explained everything.

"That's your master plan, letting a rat go in some girls compartment," Remus rolled his eyes.

"My dear Remus , we must work our way up to keep them always on their toes," said James acting if he was Dumbledore himself.

"Whatever you say," replied the young werewolf.

"Exactly," James replied.

"Do you know where a compartment full of girls is?" Remus asked.

"Yup, come along young grasshopper," said James in a zen master voice.

Sirius Black was completely and utterly bored. He was sitting in a compartment filled with green and silver. His mother had made sure he was with his cousins when he got on the train, and she had also told him that he was to sit with his cousins so that they could introduce him to the people he would be associating with. Sirius starting plotting ways to get out of this particular part of hell when a pair boys opened the compartment door while laughing. Suddenly the entire compartment was glaring at the two boys.

"Err...sorry, we got mixed up about what compartment was ours," said a boy with glasses.

Sirius noticed that they were about to leave so he mouthed, 'save me'.

Remus nudged James when he saw this James looked confused, then Remus nodded his head toward Sirius. James looked at his face and saw a look of pure boredom mixed with slight irritation.

"Are you a first year?" asked James already knowing the answer.

"Uh, yeah," said Sirius, confused, he wasn't sure what the messy haired boy was up to.

"Would you like to come and sit in our compartment?" interjected Remus before James could accidently say something to offend they older students who knew more magic than they did by far.

"YES! , I mean yeah sure," said Sirius trying to not look too pathetic.

"Hold it!" snapped a pretty girl with long blonde hair and cold grey eyes.

"What's the problem?"asked Sirius.

Remus noticed a badge with a large '_**P**_'' on her robes. He nudged James, telling him with his eyes to not cross anyone in the compartment.

"Well, I just can't allow my little cousin to wonder off with anyone," said the girl.

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on Cissa let me go meet some other first years, please," Sirius added the 'please' oping his cousins heart wasn't completely frozen.

"Hmm, well maybe, but first what house do you two want to be in?" asked Cissa.

"Slytherin!" Remus yelled slightly, cutting in before James could be stupid enough to automatically say Gryffindor.

"Well I guess you can go, just don't tell your mum," threatened Cissa.

"Absolutely no problem," Sirius said with a grin.

The three first year boys then exited the Slytherin compartment and didn't say anything until they reached Remus' and James' compartment.

"Okay, so are we sure this is the correct one this time," said James finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, this is it," said Remus.

"So what are your guy's names?" asked Sirius.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Remus Lupin and this is James Potter," Remus answered.

"Nice to be you, the name is Sirius."

"Do you come with a last name?" asked James.

"Yeah, but I don't like telling people, they treat me differently."

"Oh" was all James had to say.

"I'll tell you what you tell us your last name and I wont think and differently and Remus here doesn't look like the judgmental type," said James with a smile, not a grin.

"Alright, deal, my last name is Black," said Sirius.

"It sounds familiar," James said while trying to think of where he had heard it.

"You'll figure it out soon enough," Sirius added while looking a little grim.

Then, from somewhere above there heads a voice rang out.

"All students please change into your robes, we will be at Hogwarts shortly.

"Oh come on AJ, it isn't that bad," said Lily soothingly.

AJ still glared at the offending object.

"Just put it on," Michelle said carefully trying to calm the other girl down.

"Are you guys insane, it's not me! I hate those things, it'll ruin me, my brothers will never let me live it down!" snapped AJ.

"AJ! Its just a skirt, its not going to kill you," said Kayleigh a little tense.

"Psh, like you would know, I prefer my jeans," said AJ while crossing her arms.

"Okay, if you don't put it on yourself, the rest of us are going to dress you," snapped Lily slightly fed up with AJ's melodramatics.

"Ugh," grumbled AJ.

She unbuttoned her jeans and shrugged out of them, mumbling obscenities under her breathe. She grabbed the grey skirt from the compartment bench and yanked it on. When she was finished she stared at her lower half, then growled and threw herself on to the seat.

"Dress codes suck."


	3. The Sorting

**NEW AUTHORS NOTE: So here is chapter 3, hope you all enjoy.**

**AN: Anddddddd we're back, okay so I fully admit that this chapter took a decade to write, but it was being a pain and not agreeing with me, so it's not completely my fault, right, right. Okay on to other things...I'm really not quite sure what those things are...ummmm yeah I guess I'll quit rambling now and let you read the story.**

**Tootles**

**Adriane and Jordyn**

**Chapter 3: The Sorting**

"_Teacher don't you fill me up with your rules"_

_-Smokin' In The Boys Room–By Mötley Crüe_

By the time the Hogwarts Express reached Hogsmeade, AJ had started ranting about the dress code again.

"It just isn't fair, I mean, why can't we were pants like the boys? It's sexist or something," rambled AJ.

"AJ," snapped Lily, "if it matters so much to you, just bring it up with the Headmaster or something."

"You are going to bug the headmaster about your dislike of the school uniforms?" asked Kayleigh in disbelief.

"You know what," AJ replied with a determined look across her face, "I am."

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a long year," muttered Kayleigh.

"Oh come on, it'll be awesomely wicked," said Michelle while bouncing in her seat on the account of too much sugar intake.

"Michelle, while you please stop spazing out," whined Lily while rubbing her temples.

Lily loved the girls already, but she was used to being able to go to her room and have some peace and quiet, and unlike Kayleigh she couldn't escape with so much chatter going on around her. Then they all heard a disembodied voice.

"Students, we have arrived at Hogsmeade. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately".

"Ooo yay!" exclaimed a hyper Michelle.

"Uh oh," muttered AJ.

"What's wrong?" asked Lily.

"Well you know how when I first came in here I said I was hiding from my oldest brother?" she asked.

"Wait, oldest? How many do you have?" interrupted Lily.

"I have four total. Two older and two younger," she said with a wave of her hand.

"How much older?" asked Michelle.

"Uh Jason is in his 5th year and Hayden is in his 3rd." she replied.

"So your hiding from Jason then, right?" asked Kayleigh trying to get back to the point.

"Yup, he was being a jerk when we were getting ready to leave the house, so I got I my revenge in the form of a bleach blonde Ravenclaw," she giggled.

"Aw so mean," said Michelle, "Was it fun?"

"The fun-est," she laughed.

"So what's going to happen now," asked Lily.

"Oh I'm thinking World War III," she said seriously.

"That bad?" questioned Kayleigh.

"Do any of you have brothers?" AJ asked.

"I have an older sister, but that's it," replied Lily.

"Only child," said Kayleigh

"Me too, I'm sibling-less," agreed Michelle.

"Well interrupting a potential 'friend' like that girl is worthy of a serious beating," replied AJ.

"Your brothers beat you?" asked Kayleigh in disbelief.

"Well I can take Alex and Spencer, but they are only 9 and 7. Occasionally I can beat Hayden if I'm mad enough, but Jason is a different story," she said and crossed her arms.

"So you guys actually fight? But I thought boys weren't suppose to hit girls?" Kayleigh asked confusedly.

"Ah, but you see, to them I'm not a girl I'm just a sister. There is a huge difference," explained AJ.

"So do you know how your going to avoid him?" asked Lily.

"Oh I'm not going to avoid him. I'm hoping he gets me back," said AJ mischievously.

"Okay, raise your hand if your confused," interjected Michelle

"Because he'll get in trouble with the girls in his year, and its always fun to watch them lecture him about being mean to me," she said with a grin.

"You are an evil, evil child," laughed Michelle.

"You will learn to love me."

James, Sirius and Remus climbed off the Hogwarts Express together and were looking down the dark streets of Hogsmeade when a boy of seventeen with slick blonde hair yelled at them to get over by the train.

"Firs' 'ears over 'ere," boomed a loud voice.

"Wow, that guy is ginormous," said James in awe.

"No kidding," muttered Sirius while looking up.

"Four to a boat," the same voice yelled.

"I guess we should try to find a boat," said Remus quietly, still not believing that the other two boys hadn't ditched him after they exited the train.

"Alright-y then," chirped James.

They found an empty one next to a group of girls. Three of them were yanking on the others arms, trying to get her into the boat.

"Can I- er- do you mind if - um- I share a boat?" asked a boy slightly thick with baby fat.

"Oh not at all, hop in," smiled James.

"Thanks," said the boy quietly.

"I'm James and this is Sirius and Remus," he said while pointing to the other two boys.

"Peter Pettigrew," the boy said shyly.

"So I'm incredibly bored, I wonder if you can tip these boats over?" muttered Sirius.

"Ooo good idea, lets try," said James.

"What if we do tip it?" asked Remus slightly apprehensive.

"Then we get a little wet, come on a little water never hurt anybody," replied Sirius.

Peter looked into the dark water below him and gulped.

"Oh come on, are we all in or what?" asked James.

"Yeah we won't do it, if we all don't agree," added Sirius, though he was looking slightly downcast at the prospect of not being able to tip the boat.

Remus looked at the hopeful faces of Sirius and James then looked down into the lake and back up again.

"Im in."

The rest of the boys now looked at Peter.

"O-okay, I'll do it too," he managed to stutter out.

"Wicked."

"I cannot believe you guys dragged me into this piece of floating driftwood," grumbled Kayleigh.

"Oh don't be such a girl, its perfectly safe," muttered AJ.

"I _am_ a girl," she snapped.

"Well that's no reason to whine like one," argued AJ.

"I think it's a perfectly good reason."

"Oh will the both of you quit it, look you can see the castle now," Lily intervened pointing to there home for the next couple of months.

SPLASH!

The girls all looked over to the boat next to them, noticing it was upside down and four boys were laughing hysterically while hanging on to it.

"What happened!" yelled AJ trying to get there attention.

"We just wanted to see what would happen," yelled one of them.

"What would happen? You mean there is another result of tipping over a boat in the middle of the lake," Kayleigh raised her eyebrow.

"You never know, the could be charmed or something," said another boy.

"This is stupid," muttered Lily.

"Oi! What do you think you four are doing in the lake?" yelled the gruff voice from before.

He floated over to them and flipped the boat back over, then picked up each boy and set them inside.

"Now stay in there, we have almost reached the school." he said not angrily.

When the boats reached shore James was the first one out, he started sprinting toward the school, and after the other three realized this they started after him.

"Boys are so weird," giggled Michelle.

"You have no idea, just wait till they get older," sighed AJ.

All of the first year students were led up the stairs to a set of double doors. A young woman walked through them. She was in a nice emerald green robe and her dark hair was in a tight bun. When she saw the four boys that were still soaked she grimaced

"Hagrid, what happened?" she asked the large man.

"Not 'xactly sure, jus' saw 'em in the water," he replied.

She rolled her eyes and waved her wand and muttered an incantation under her breath, and suddenly the boys were not only dry but there robes were pressed also.

"That is slightly better, now on to business. Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I am Professor McGonagall Though these doors are the rest of your classmates, but before you can join them for supper, you must be sorted into your houses. There are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Your triumphs will earn you house point and rule breaking," she looked directly at the boys, "will lose you house points, the house at the end of the year with the most points will be awarded the house cup. Now follow me."

The students followed her through the large doors and stood in a jumble of a line. They stopped in front of a stool with a ragged looking wizard hat on top of it. While most of the students looked confused, there were a few that seemed to realize what was going on. AJ, James and Sirius being a few. When the hat opened it's brim and started singing Lily and Michelle both jumped slightly back and AJ laughed quietly at them.

"Oh shush, why couldn't you give us a warning or something," whispered Lily.

"And miss the look on your faces, don't think so," AJ smirked.

When the sorting hat finished it's song. The hall started clapping.

"Now, when I call your name, you will come up and place the sorting hat on your head and it will sort you into your houses," called out McGonagall.

"Angle, Jonathan"

RAVENCLAW

The Ravenclaw house burst into cheers.

"Atkins Rebecca"

HUFFLEPUFF

The Hufflepuff table followed the Ravenclaw's example and started cheering.

"Black, Sirius"

Sirius walked up to the hat and the Slytherin table scooted one down to welcome the new addition automatically.

"Hmm lets see here," whispered a voice in Sirius' head, "you have your own opinions on things don't you, and strong ones at that, I think you would do well to stir things up."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The entire hall was silent until Professor Dumbledore started clapping and slowly everyone else followed. Sirius took his seat at the end of the table and waited for the rest of his friends to be sorted. After a few names Sirius zoned out until "Evans, Lillian" was called up.

"GRYFFINDOR" yelled the hat almost immediately.

Lily walked over and sat across from Sirius and gave him a small smile. Slowly the group of first years were sorted into the four houses and Kayleigh, Peter, James, Remus, Michelle, and AJ joined Lily and Sirius at the Gryffindor table.

"Welcome students, new and old. Just a few reminders the Forbidden Forest is exactly that, forbidden and we have planted a new tree on the grounds called the Whomping Willow, stay clear of it because it is very defensive. Now lets all tuck in to this delicious feast," said Headmaster Dumbledore.

Suddenly the tables were filled with food and the hall exploded in chatter.

"Hello," said Michelle to the boys sitting across from them, "I'm Michelle."

"I'm James and this is Remus, Peter, and Sirius," James said with his mouth full.

"Nice to meet you, this is Lily, AJ, and Kayleigh," she replied.

Lily wrinkled her nose at James.

"You shouldn't speak with your mouth full," she reprimanded him.

James raised his eyebrow and swallowed.

"You right, I shouldn't," he smirked.

"Then don't do it."

"But where is the fun in that?"

"It's called proper mannerisms," interjected Kayleigh.

"Well I'm sick of being proper, I'm finally away from all of those stuffy people my parents like to throw parties with. It's time to have a little fun."

Lily and Kayleigh huffed at him.

AJ rolled her eyes but smiled at her new friends, and started talking to Michelle about her uniform. Some how she had already managed to get paint on it, even though she hadn't used her paints since last night.

"I told you, I think my paints just follow me everywhere," explained Michelle.

By the time dinner was over James and AJ were already heatedly discussing Quidditch.

"No, no, no Ireland beat Bulgaria in 1958 not 1895," said James.

"Nope, wrong again Bulgaria beat Switzerland in 1958," replied AJ while stuffing her face with ice cream.

"Ugh no, Switzerland beat Germany in 1914," argued James.

"What does the Quidditch Cup of 1914 have to do with the Quidditch cup of 1958?" asked Peter.

James and AJ both stared at him like he had two heads.

"Everything" they said in unison.

"The last time Switzerland was in the finals since 1958 was in 1914, so Bulgaria was going up against existing champions and they also had the rookie card because they had never been to the finals," said AJ as if this explained everything.

"Ugh, okay for one the championship game of 1958 was between _Ireland_ and Bulgaria, not Switzerland and Bulgaria. And two Bulgaria made it to the finals in 1903 against Poland, making it the 2nd time in the finals," said James heatedly.

"Sorry I asked," mumbled Peter and started a conversation with Sirius, hoping it wouldn't be as insane as the last one he was in.

After dessert was finished the Gryffindor prefects led the eight new students to their new home.

"Oh my, did you see that? The portraits...they move," said Michelle in awe.

"Well of course they move, it would get very boring sitting in one place all the time," Sirius said.

"Yes, but it the muggle world pictures don't move," explained Lily.

"What do you mean they don't move?"asked James.

"Exactly that, they don't move," replied Lily.

"Weird," muttered James and Sirius together.

"Alright this in the entrance to the Gryffindor tower," said the Prefect while motioning to a portrait of a large woman in a pink dress, "The password is pandemonium, try not to forget it. When there is a new password I will make an announcement, and the former password will not work. Now are there any questions before we enter?"

No one said anything.

"Alright good. Pandemonium," said the prefect and the portrait swung open.

"This is the Gryffindor common room, boys your dormitory is up the stairs and to your left, and girls the same on your right. You'll find that all of your belongings are upstairs waiting for you."

The Gryffindor common room was a cozy place with a large fire and overstuffed plush chairs and couches.

The girls said goodnight to the boys and vise versa and headed up to there respective rooms.

Lily was the first to enter the dorm and found her bed to be the closest to the door, which she liked (easier to flop into after a long day). Next to Lily was Michelle which put her next to the window (perfect for day dreaming). On the other side of Michelle and the window was AJ (who always liked a nice breeze and it was perfect for sneaking out for a night time broom ride). And finally Kayleigh was on the other side of AJ and opposite from Lily (and also closest to the bathroom).

The four girls immediately changed out of their school uniforms, into their pajamas and jumped into their respective beds.

"I think Hogwarts is going to be awesome," muttered Lily sleepily from her bed.

"Most definitely," agreed Michelle.

Then the dorm was filled with silence.

The boys dorm was set up exactly like the girls with the exception of Peter being the one next to the door. Remus was next to him and the window. James was on Remus' other side and also next to the window. Finally Sirius was next to James and the bathroom and opposite Peter. But unlike the girls, the boys were not settling down into there pajamas and beds. They were trying to figure out the best way to be remembered at Hogwarts long after their seven years were up.

Toward the small hours of the morning they all decided together that they would become the most mischievous, chaos inducing, batch of pranksters that Hogwarts ever has or will ever see.

Merlin help the student body and faculty staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	4. The Stripping of Freedoms

**A/N: Re-postage of chapter 4**

**Chapter 4: The Stripping of Freedoms**

_Kill the messenger_

_I swear it's not me_

_It's just someone I used to know_

–Jacks Mannequin

Remus Lupin woke up to a patch of sunlight strategically placed across his eyes. He looked over to the other three beds in his dorm. Sirius and Peter both had their curtains closed, but James' were wide open and his bed was empty. Remus furrowed his brow and shook his head. He climbed out of his bed and walked to the bathroom door and knocked to make sure James wasn't in there. Suddenly the dormitory door flew open and James came barging in, already showered and dressed.

"Oh, finally, somebody is up with me. I've been awake for ages," said James.

"Shhh Sirius and Peter are still asleep. What time is it anyway?" asked Remus.

"7:00 a.m. I've been up since 5:00," replied James.

Remus looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to take a shower."

"Take a quick one, I'm bored," grumbled James.

Remus just rolled his eyes and entered the bathroom. He walked over to the shower and turned it on. By the time he was soaping up his hair, he heard a shout.

"BLOODY HELL! POTTER I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Remus just chucked to himself and finished washing up.

Over in the girls dormitory Kayleigh was the first to arise. She looked at her clock, which read 7:00 a.m. She walked over to the window and looked out to the lake, a grin formed across her face and she bounced over to Lily's bed.

"Hey wake up its 7:00," she said while nudging her.

"Ugh, I don't wanna," Lily mumbled.

"Well I'm going to go hop in the shower and when I get out you better be ready to get in after me."

"Yes mum," said Lily sarcastically.

"Good, you need to wake the other girls up by the way," Kayleigh said before bouncing off to the bathroom.

"Sure leave me with the spazzes," mumbled Lily.

She stood up and stretched her arms above her head and stared at the other two beds AJ had one of her legs hanging off the bed and Michelle had some how managed to completely flip around sometime during the night so that her head was now at the foot of her bed. Lily grinned at her new friends and started nudging Michelle first.

"Hey, we need to start getting ready for classes."

Michelle opened her eyes almost immediately.

"When I rule the world, I'm banning mornings," she said before yanking the covers back over her head.

"Of course you are," muttered Lily as she pulled the covered back off Michelle's head.

"Lilyyyyy," whined Michelle.

"Michelleeeeeee," Lily replied back.

Michelle pouted, "you hate me."

"Yup, you're the bane of my existence, now up you go I have to try and wake up AJ."

"Well this is going to be interesting," said Michelle through a yawn.

"No kidding...do you have any ideas on how we should do this?" asked Lily.

"Not a clue, only child remember," Michelle replied from her upright position.

"Okay here goes nothing," muttered Lily as she walked over to AJ's bed, "Hey AJ wake up its time for breakfast."

AJ didn't stir.

"What now?"" Lily asked Michelle.

Michelle shrugged her shoulders. Lily was trying to figure out another way to wake AJ up when they heard a knock on the door. Lily looked at Michelle with questioning eyes, Michelle returned the look and made a hand motion to Lily to answer the door. The darker red head of the two opened the door to a girl with curly black hair who was wearing a pair of flannel plaid pajama bottoms and a snug white t-shirt.

"Jason wants to know if you were able to wake his sister up yet?" said the girl in a tied yet slightly aggravated voice.

"Who's Jason?" asked Lily.

"A fifth year, he said his sisters name was AJ," replied the girl trying not to snap at the red head in front of her, knowing that it wasn't her fault she was rudely awaked this morning.

"Oh! Yeah, um I mean no we weren't able to wake her up yet," Lily said while fidgeting with her night gown.

"Well Jason said to call her by her full name. I think he said it was Alyssa Jean, he also said it might make her a bit pissy.

"Alright thanks," said Lily.

The girl nodded and walked back to her room.

"What was that all about?" asked Kayleigh, her dark brown hair still wet.

"A girl came and told us how to wake up AJ," answered Lily.

"How would she know?" Kayleigh asked again.

"She said Jason told her," Lily replied.

"Well how do we do it?"

"By calling her Alyssa Jean."

"Okay then," said Kayleigh looking skeptical.

Lily walked over to AJ's bed, "Alyssa Jean wake up!" she yelled.

AJ's eyes snapped open and glared at Lily.

"Well that was rude," and AJ walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

"Did she just take the bathroom before us?" asked Lily annoyed.

"Why yes, yes she did," was Michelle's reply.

Around 30 minutes later the girls were walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"I can't believe Jason told you to wake me up like that," grumbled AJ.

"Technically it was a girl with black hair who told us how to do it," said Lily.

"Yeah but Jason told her to, and that's just mean."

The other three girls just rolled their eyes at AJ, they were slowly learning that ranting was part of her daily routine. It was the middle of breakfast when Professor McGonagall passed out their timetables. Kayleigh and Lily were both looking excited about this, whereas AJ wrinkled her nose at it.

"Oh look we've got transfiguration with the Ravenclaws first this morning, ooo then Charms with the Hufflepuffs and after that we've got--"

"Lily, dearest I know you're excited about classes starting, but I'd really rather _not _hear about my freedom being slowly stripped away," said AJ.

"Oh AJ quit being such a drama queen," said Michelle with a mouthful of toast.

"Oh that's attractive," muttered Kayleigh disdainfully.

"Wasn't trying to be," said Michelle as if Kayleigh hadn't just said something slightly rude.

"AJ look at tomorrow's schedule," Lily said suddenly with a large smile on her face.

"I just said how I didn't want to listen about my freedom being stripped away, why would reading about it be any different?"AJ asked.

"Just trust me," laughed Lily.

AJ narrowed her eyes, but picked up her timetable none the less.

'Alright lets see here,' thought AJ, 'Potions with the Slytherins, double history of Magic with the Hufflepuffs. Can you say boring.' Then what AJ read next made her eyes go wide and a huge smile formed on her face.

"YES!"

Kayleigh jumped and looked at AJ incredulously but AJ either didn't notice or didn't care. Then AJ started doing a jig in her seat. Lily and Michelle giggled at her while Kayleigh looked at her as if she were a zoo attraction.

"What on earth is she doing?" Kayleigh asked Lily.

"What do you mean? She's just excited."

"That's what she does when she's excited?"

"Well yeah, what do you do when you're excited?" Lily asked turning her attention from AJ, who was still dancing, to Kayleigh.

"Well usually I just say I'm excited," answered Kayleigh.

"You don't jump around or yell or anything?" Lily asked.

"Of course not, that not the way a proper Lady conducts herself," replied Kayleigh.

"Conducts herself," Lily repeated, "You do realize that your only eleven right?"

"Whats your point?"

"Nothing, its just a little odd that an eleven year old girl sees herself as a lady."

"I am not odd," replied Kayleigh defensively, " Besides, Mother and Father both say I'm mature for my age."

But before Lily could reply a boy with the same color hair as AJ and hazel eyes walked up to them.

"Let me guess, she just figured out when her first flying lesson is," said the boy.

Lily nodded.

"Figures," he muttered," I'm Hayden by the way, AJ's older brother."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Lily and this is Kayleigh and Michelle."

"Nice to meet you girls too."

Hayden gave AJ a light swipe across the back of her head.

"What the-" muttered AJ as she flipped around.

"Oh hey Hayden! Guess what? Guess what?"

"You have you first official flying lesson coming up?"

"Yup! Could I borrow your broom please, please, pretty please?"

"Why don't you ask Jason, he has a better broom."

"I'm not talking to that traitor, and besides even if I was, his royal prat-ness would never let me borrow it. Even if I am a thousand times better at flying that he is." replied AJ.

"This is true," agreed Hayden.

"So can I?" AJ asked agin hopefully.

"Of course baby sister, just tell me when you need it."

"I'm not a baby," argued AJ.

"Eh you'll always be my baby sister, just accept it and move on," snickered Hayden.

AJ stuck her tongue out and continued eating her breakfast.

"That was you're _brother_?" asked Kayleigh after Hayden walked away.

"One out of four, why?"

"Well he was, um kinda, well..."

"Cute?" said Michelle helpfully and Kayleigh nodded.

"That's disgusting," said AJ while wrinkling her nose.

"Nah, Michelle and Kayleigh are right, he's a dish," agreed Lily.

AJ looked at them as if they had horns growing out of their heads.

"You guys are disturbed."

"Whose disturbed?" asked James as he and the rest of his friends sat around the girls.

"No one," said Kayleigh quickly while giving AJ a look.

"So do you guys know what classes are today?" asked Remus as he put some eggs on his plate.

"Oh, here are your timetables. McGonagall asked me to give them to you when you guys made it down for breakfast," said Lily while handing them to the boys.

"Awww, we don't have flying until tomorrow," whined James.

"I know! Its so not fair," grumbled AJ.

After breakfast, the group of eight walked to transfiguration together (after getting instructions from Hayden on how to get there.) Kayleigh and Lilt sat down in the first row while AJ and Michelle sat in the middle, the boys were walking toward the back of the room until AJ grabbed Sirius' arm.

"I'd sit in the middle if I were you."

"Why?"

"Trust me."

Sirius looked at James who shrugged and sat down behind Michelle. The rest of the boys followed suit.

It wasn't long until the classroom filled up completely. Chatter filled the room and Kayleigh already started reading her transfiguration text book.

It was in the middle of AJ trying to explain Quidditch to Michelle (With James adding in his own commentary) that Professor McGonagall entered the room, and the students fell silent. Her robes were emerald green and her hair was in the same tight bun it was last night during the feast.

She stood in the font of the room, her sharp eyes scanning over her new batch of students.

"Welcome to level one transfiguration."


	5. The Howler

**A/N: And here is the much anticipated (yeah right) chapter 5! Woo hoo, hope you all enjoy.**

**Chapter 5: The Howler**

_The time has come to change this..._

–Three Days Grace

"This is a class to be taken seriously, I will not abide to rule breaking, tardiness, laziness, or interruptions. Is this understood? Good. Now please take out some parchment and a quill. We will start with the Transfiguration theory."

Sirius noticed that McGonagall was directing her questions at the back row of students and he was grateful to AJ for giving him a heads up. Around half way through the lesson McGonagall told everyone to pair up and that they were going to start they first attempts at transfiguration. The ever popular transfiguring match sticks into needles. James and him automatically paired up and he noticed that Peter and Remus were paired as well.

AJ and Michelle stared at the red and tan needle.

"Well, at least it's a needle," said AJ.

"I like it, Its an individual, its not pressured into looking like all the other needles, he's got personality," replied Michelle.

"You know, I agree."

"Your turn," Michelle prompted.

"Alright," AJ muttered the incantation and the matchstick flew and hit a brunette ravenclaw boy in the eye.

"OUCH!"

"Ooo sorry!" yelled AJ.

"Ms. Matthews, is there a problem?" Professor McGonagall asked as she came over to there table.

"Yes I don't think that I am cut out for transfiguration. We should just stop this before it gets out of hand," answered AJ.

"Well Ms. Matthews as level one transfiguration is a required course it would not be prudent for you to quit. Keep practicing, transfiguration is a difficult form of magic. It takes more effort than one attempt." and with that Professor Mcgonagall walked toward Peter and Remus.

"She doubts my ability to fail. I find that rude." said AJ.

"Most people would find that comforting," Lily said after listening to their conversation.

"Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, why do you two have your feet on my desk and are not practicing the lesson?" asked Professor McGonagall sternly.

"We finished, see," replied James while pointing toward the to pristine needles on the desk.

"Well, how about you two show the rest of the class exactly what you did," Professor McGonagall said sharply.

"Of course Professor."

The boys swung their feet around and quickly transfigured the needles back into matchstick and then needles again.

"Very good, ten points to Gryffindor."

Sirius and James grinned at each other and high fived.

"Since you two seem to have a aptitude for transfiguration why don't you help your fellow class mates."

James and Sirius stared at her long after she turned around.

"This is a crap reward system, we should get a cookie or something instead," muttered James and Sirius nodded in agreement.

The boys walked over to Remus and Peter and asked them how they were doing.

"I got it after a few try's, but Peter is having some difficulties," replied Remus while cringing as Peter just wacked his matchstick with his wand.

"Alright Pete, lets see what we can do about this," said Sirius.

James, figuring that Sirius had their room mates covered, walked over to AJ and Michelle.

"You girls need any help?"

"Um Jeff and I are fine, but AJ seems to be having issues with the spell," answered Michelle.

"Why won't you work," AJ grunted at her matchstick.

James started to try and help AJ when he turned back to Michelle.

"Wait a minute, who's Jeff?"

"Oh he's my needle," Michelle showed him the red and tan needle, "he believes in expressing his individualism."

"Oh well, um, good for you Jeff," and James turned to AJ.

"So what seems to be the problem?" he asked AJ.

"The problem is, is that I am hopeless at this stupid subject!"

"Okay well lets break it down."

After five minutes of working with James, AJ finally managed it.

"VICTORY!" and with that she grabbed Michelle's hand and started doing a jig.

Kayleigh and Lily started their homework (They had asked Professor McGonagall what it entailed), since they had both successfully transfigured their matchsticks into needles, when James came over to them.

"You guys figure it out?" he asked.

The girls nodded, so he wandered back over to Sirius who was still trying to help Peter.

"Mate it's not that difficult, you're making it much harder than it is," said Sirius trying not to lose his temper.

Fortunately between Sirius, Remus, and James, Peter managed to get a needle a few minutes before it was time to go to their next class.

"Two feet of parchment on the theory of transfiguration and how it will benefit you in later life," announced Professor McGonagall.

The eight Gryffindor first years left the classroom together hoping that between all of them they would be able to find the Charms room.

"Two feet?! They don't want us to have a life at all," grumbled James.

Lily rolled her eyes, there was something about this boy that irked her, "School is about education, not 'having a life'. Homework helps you remember all the information that is given during class time."

"Are you always this uptight?" asked James with a grin, he liked arguing with her and it was fun to wind her up.

"Are you always this rude?" Lily snapped and started talking to Michelle.

James shrugged and struck up a conversation with AJ about Quidditch.

After five minutes of wondering around the castle, looking for the Charms classroom, the eight first year students were becoming agitated.

"This is getting ridiculous," Michelle snapped.

AJ raised an eyebrow at her tone, "Someone got grumpy fast."

"Well I wanted to go to Charms. There are some amazing spells you can put on paints and brushes. To change textures and all sorts of stuff," Michelle replied.

"You paint?" asked Peter.

"Oh yes, I love art in general, but painting is my favorite."

"What else do you do?"

"I use all kinds of mediums," Michelle replied, her eyes shining as she talked about her favorite passion.

"Mediums?" Peter asked confused.

"A medium is what you work with like paint, charcoal, pencils, pens, markers, clay etcetera," answered Michelle.

"Oh I understand."

"Okay back to the bigger issue of not knowing where we are," Lily said getting more and more annoyed with the situation.

"Aw calm down Evans, some one is bound to come along sooner or later," James said with a grin.

"And how exactly do you know that?" snapped Lily.

"Cause when the professor realizes that eight of his students are missing he'll most likely send someone to look for us, especially since we're all first years and it won't be difficult to come to the conclusion that we're lost," replied James.

"You know that actually makes sense," said Kayleigh.

Lily crossed her arms and scowled, while James didn't even attempt to suppress his smirk.

"Hey you eight!" yelled a boy from behind them.

They turned around and saw a boy with curly brown hair and a prefect badge.

"Are you guys Gryffindor first years?" he asked.

"Yeah. We got lost looking for the Charms classroom," explained Remus.

The boy laughed, "Figured as much, happened to me in my first year too. Fortunately you guys have Professor Flitwick. He's usually pretty understanding."

"Who were you late for?" asked Peter.

"McGonagall."

James and Sirius cringed.

"That sucks," said Remus and the girls all nodded in agreement.

"You have no idea. My name is Nick by the way."

The Gryffindors introduced themselves and Nick walked them to the Charms classroom. He knocked on the classroom door before opening it.

"Hello Professor, found your missing Gryffindors."

"Oh thank you Mr. Davis, students please take a seat."

The group sat in the remaining seats and pulled out their text books, some parchment, and a quill and then began taking notes along with their fellow Hufflepuff first years.

After charms class, they headed outside to their first herbology lesson.

Kayleigh stared at the potted plant in front of her with a grimace on her face.

"What's wrong?" AJ asked.

Kayleigh looked over to her and wrinkled her nose when she noticed that AJ already had dirt up to her elbows.

"I'm not really the 'play in the mud' type of girl," replied Kayleigh.

"Eh, it's not that bad. My mum loves to garden so I already have an idea of how to do some if the simple stuff. I could help you out if you wanted."

"That would be wonderful. Thank you so much," Kayleigh said gratefully.

"No problem," laughed AJ, she grabbed a pair of gloves for Kayleigh and set to work.

At the table behind them Lily and Michelle sat next to each other for Lily, she could already tell that herbology wasn't going to be her favorite subject but she knew she would be able to do well in it. As for Michelle she stared at the green plant in front of her with her hands firmly behind her back.

"Why aren't you doing your work?" Lily asked her as she looked over her book to make sure she was doing the procedure properly.

Michelle gestured Lily to lean in closer to her and Lily complied.

"I have a..._black_ thumb," she barely whispered out.

"Huh?" said Lily confused.

"You know how when people are good with plants they say they have a green thumb?"

"Well yeah."

"Well, I kill everything I touch!" she squeaked.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Lily said in disbelief.

"I'm serious Lily. My mother bought a rose bush and one night she asked me to water it, right. Then we woke up the next morning and when she went to get the mail it was completely dead! I mean dead, dead, like dry brown twigs," she replied cringing at the memory.

Lily raised her eyebrow and helped Michelle with her plant trying to avoid the Professor's eyes. Fortunately for them, Professor Hosler had her hands full with their male Gryffindor counterparts.

"Boys! Stop that!"

Lily and Michelle ducked their heads down to snort at their upstanding Professor running around trying to catch the four eleven year old boys.

After the double lesson, the girls headed off to lunch while the boys got reprimanded for throwing dirt clods at one another.

By the time the boys got to the Great Hall the girls had their plates full and the owls were bringing in the noon mail.

"I am absolutely starving. There is far too much time in between breakfast and lunch. My poor body can't handle it," said Sirius with his mouth full.

"I completely agree," mumbled James through his sandwich.

Michelle grinned and shook her had at their antics while Kayleigh pushed her plate away from her in disgust.

The owls dropped letters in front of James, AJ, Remus, and Sirius. But the letter Sirius receive was slightly different than the others.

Sirius glared at the scarlet envelope, it hadn't even been a full day before his family ruined his good mood. He just couldn't catch a break. James, Remus, AJ, Kayleigh, and Peter gave him weird looks wondering how he had managed to anger someone so early in the year. While Lily and Michelle remained oblivious to what the bright red envelope meant.

Sirius let out a deep breath and reached out for the envelope. As he ripped it open those who were familiar with the magical world cringed.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! YOU HAVE BEEN A DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE PAST BUT _NEVER_ DID I IMAGINE THAT YOU WOULD DO SOMETHING AS LOW AS BEING SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR! AND WHAT ANGERS ME EVEN MORE IS THAT THIS CAN'T BE FIXED! WHAT'S DONE IS DONE AND NOW OUR FAMILY IS STUCK WITH THIS FOR AN ETERNITY! I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER BEFORE YOU COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS, OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT AS WELL STAY AT HOGWARTS!"

The letter burst into flames and the entire hall was silent, not a whisper, not a clanking of dishes, not even a sneeze. All eyes were on the Gryffindor table. Even the teachers couldn't hide their shock. Sirius took a deep breath, stood up, and with his head held high, he calmly walked out of the dining hall. Before the door even shut James, Remus, and Peter followed him out. Unfortunately when they made it out the doors, Sirius was already out of sight.

"Damn," muttered James.

"Do you think he would have gone to the dormitory?" asked Peter.

"It's worth a shot," said Remus.

They all ran off to the Gryffindor tower, but the common room and their dormitory were both empty when they got there.

"Ugh, how are we going to find him," grumbled James.

"We really need a map for this place, its far too big," Remus muttered, mostly to himself.

"Well lets just go look around the castle and hope we get lucky I guess," suggested Peter.

"That could take forever," snapped James, not blaming Peter but needing to vent.

"Well do you have a better idea?" asked Remus trying to keep the peace.

"Unfortunately no," answered James.

"Well then this is the best we've got."

The three boys ran around the castle for a good thirty minutes before they found their wayward room mate sitting on the window sill of an empty classroom. He was hugging his knees to his chest and staring blankly out the window.

"Hey Sirius, you didn't eat much at lunch, we were worried," said James attempting to be subtle.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and tightened his lips. James gave Remus a 'your turn now' look and the sandy blond sat down next to Sirius on the window sill.

"Hey buddy, that was an...intense letter you had earlier," Remus said quietly.

Sirius gave a slight nod, but didn't take his eyes off the window.

"Want to talk about it?" asked James.

Sirius took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, he knew his curious friends weren't going to let this drop anytime soon.

"My family isn't what you'd call warm, I guess," Sirius barely mumbled out.

"What do you mean?" asked Remus, but Sirius didn't reply.

"Sirius come on, you can talk to us," urged James.

"Yeah that's what friends are for," agreed Remus.

Sirius leaned his head back against the was but still didn't say anything.

"We are here for you," Peter added.

"Do you not get on with your family?" James asked slowly putting the pieces together.

Sirius finally broke his silence, "You could say that."

"Talking usually helps," said Peter trying to get his new friend to open up.

"It's kind of boring," replied Sirius as a last ditch effort, not really expecting it to work.

Peter and James sat down on the floor in the front of Sirius and Remus.

"Then bore us," Remus said with an encouraging smile.

Sirius took a deep breath, "My parents and I have never really gotten along, well actually I don't really get along with most of my family now that I think about it."

"Why not?" asked Peter.

Sirius gave a sarcastic snort, "I ask questions."

Remus looked confused, while a look of realization spread across James' face, "Black," he whispered.

Sirius looked down and fell silent. Remus furrowed his brow at James.

"A lot of the old pureblood families are ... well kind of snobby," James explained.

"That's putting it nicely," Sirius said.

"Well that's what I was going for," replied James with a grin.

"But whats wrong with asking questions?" Peter asked confused.

"Children are meant to be seen and not heard," was Sirius' response.

"Are you serious?" asked Remus.

"Well yeah, who did you think I was?"

"Oh jeez, you didn't," chuckled Remus.

Sirius grinned, "I couldn't resist."

"I don't get it," Peter said confused.

The other boys looked at him.

"Sirius...serious...Sirius...serious. Get it?" asked James.

"Oh yeah I get it now," replied Peter with a flush covering his cheeks.

James gave Peter a slight nudge in his shoulder and rolled his eyes.

"HEY!," Remus yelled suddenly and pointed his finger at Sirius, "No changing the subject."

"I didn't! We just got a little distracted," replied Sirius quickly.

"So what we have is you like asking questions, but your parents don't," said Peter trying to get back on track.

"Ugh, you don't get it. When I say I'm a pure blood, I mean my family is at the top of the social food chain, and the most important thing is for it to stay that way. Ever since I was born my parents started drilling me with how to keep appearances up" said Sirius while hoping off the window sill and walking over to the teachers desk.

"He's right, the Black family is a little nutty, no offense," James cut it.

"Oh no, you're right. They are all coo-coo,"; agreed Sirius.

"So who was the howler from?" asked Peter.

"My mother."

"Is she always that...angry,"asked Peter.

"If by angry you mean insane, then yes she's very angry," replied Sirius honestly.

"Why is she so against Gryffindor?" James asked looking as if it was a personal insult against him.

"My entire family has been in Slytherin, I mean we've had a few Ravenclaws, but for the most part its been a Slytherin deal with the house of Black," explained Sirius.

"So it's like the opposite of my family," said James.

"Huh?" Peter muttered.

"The Potters have pretty much all been Gryffindors, since basically forever," James told Remus.

"Now that's ironic," snickered Remus.

"What?" asked James and Sirius simultaneously.

"You two becoming friends, I mean you're both from opposite, yet similar back rounds. Its kind of ironic that's all."

"So yeah, now you all know about my creepy family issues," sighed Sirius.

"So can we go check to see if lunch is still going on then?" James piped up.

"You guys don't care?" asked Sirius he was sure that his friends wouldn't want to put up with his family baggage, he sure as hell didn't.

"Care about what?" asked Remus confused.

"That my family is completely batty?" replied Sirius.

"Why should we care about your family? It's you we're friends with, not them," James responded.

"Now can we please go eat, I'm starving," Peter said as he stood up.

"I agree, I didn't have nearly enough to satisfy my hunger," said James and the other two boys nodded in agreement.

As they exited the classroom they knew enough to realize they had gotten closer but they couldn't even begin to imagine how tight that bond would be.


	6. Friend or Foe

**Authors Note: Well here is chapter 6, our longest chapter yet. P.S. Harry Potter doesn't belong to either of us.**

**Chapter 6: Friend or Foe**

_[Hey man] My Schooldays Insane_

_[Hey Man] My Works Down The Drain_

–David Bowie

The boys ran back to the Great Hall, hoping to catch the end of lunch, but the time they got there everyone was grabbing their bags and headed off to their next class.

Remus and Sirius sighed in disappointment, Peter looked as if Christmas had been cancelled, and James let loose a curse word.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until dinner," Remus said dejectedly.

"I'm not sure I can wait that long," whined Peter.

"I_ know_ I can't wait that long," Sirius agreed.

"I'm going to wither away and die," James added dramatically.

Behind them a girl giggled softly.

"See? I told you, boys get so sensitive when it comes to their food intake," said a knowing AJ to a still giggling Michelle.

"We didn't see you two," said Remus stupidly, he was still awkward around other kids, especially girls.

"Why aren't you guys with your other roommates?"asked James, wondering how the four girls, who had been attached at the hip since he met them, managed to separate themselves from each other.

"Oh they went off to History of Magic already," responded Michelle, "they really have this thing with being late."

"And why didn't you two go with them?" questioned James.

"Because we were waiting for you four to show back up of course," said AJ while tying her tangled hair up in a pony.

"Why were you waiting for us?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

The girls smiled and dug in their bags, then pulled out a couple of sandwiches wrapped in napkins.

"You two are my most favorite girls ever!" exclaimed James while pulling them both into a short hug.

AJ and Michelle handed them out, and the six of them started walking to their class. When they walked through the door, Professor Binns had already started lecturing but didn't stop in his sentence when they barged in, so the girls sat down next to Kayleigh and Lily, who were diligently taking notes, while the boys sat in the row behind them. Peter and Remus pulled out their supplies to start taking notes and their room mates finished off the sandwiches.

Sirius and James eventually pulled out some parchment, but quickly grew bored of note taking and started playing tic-tac-toe instead. At the end of the hour, half the class had fallen asleep and Lily had to nudge AJ when it was time to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"That has got to be the most boring class in the history of ever!" exclaimed AJ.

Michelle nodded in agreement through her yawn.

"I dunno, I thought it was kind of easy," Peter said quietly.

James and Sirius stopped in mid-step.

"You enjoyed that?" the messy haired boy asked in shock.

"Well it wasn't horrible," mumbled Peter.

"Leave him alone," snapped Lily, "He's right, it wasn't that bad."

"Hey! We're here," Remus cut in, hoping to avoid yet another argument.

"Class, take your seats so we can proceed with our day," said a stern voice, "My name is Professor Danvers."

Professor Danvers wore a jet black robe and had greying brown hair. His eyes were sharp and seemed to catch everything that occurred in his classroom.

"Now lets go over the rules, I do not accept late work, assignments are due on the due date. I do not allow talking in class, the only voice that should be heard is mine, unless of course I call on you to answer a question. There will be no eating or drinking in my classroom, we have three different times in this school for you to consume nutrition I suggest you take advantage of that. Tardiness will be prohibited, I will lock my door at the start of class if you are not in your seat, that is not my problem. Cheating and plagiarism will earn you a failing grade and detention for the rest of the year, I believe you all have been graced with a brain, use your own. And finally, in my classroom I know _everything_ and you know _nothing_."

Kayleigh looked over to her right, where Lily was seated. The red head seemed to know what she was implying and nodded in agreement. The class pulled out their note taking instruments and by the end of class, ever Sirius had a piece of parchment full of notes.

* * *

It was after their classes for the day when Michelle went wondering around the castle by herself. She had a few hours to kill before dinner and she didn't feel like discussing quidditch with James, Sirius, Peter, and AJ (after all, she still didn't quite understand it), nor did she feel like starting her homework with Lily, Kayleigh, and Remus. So off she went, opening every door she came across. Mostly all she found were classrooms but on the 6th floor of Hogwarts in an old storage closet, Michelle found her only personal treasure. Sitting in front of her were a dozen gallon paint buckets.

"Oh wow," she whispered to herself and went to touch them but she caught herself.

'Oh I can't, they're not mine,' she thought, 'But no one wants or needs them.'

She argued with herself for a few more minutes until her desire for the paint won out. Michelle went to pick one up and grunted.

"This is going to be much more difficult than I thought," she wheezed to herself.

She dropped the can with a clank and crossed her arms in aggravation. She began to ponder, when AJ's face floated into her mind.

"Of course! Grand theft paint won't bug her at all." And the spastic Gryffindor ran off to her common room.

"AJ! AJ! AJ!" Michelle yelled while stumbling into the common room.

The blonde girl looked up from her Quidditch magazine, "What?"

"You _have _to come with me. Please," Michelle begged.

"Why? What's going on?" AJ asked as she put her magazine down.

"I'll explain on the way," she whispered.

AJ gave her friend a confused smile, "Alright then, lets go."

Michelle grabbed AJ's hand and rushed out the portrait hole.

"Oh hell, Michelle slow down! Or at least tell me where we're going."

"6th floor."

When the girls got to the storage closet they were both breathing heavily.

"You - made - me - run - for -a - stupid - storage - closet?" huffed AJ.

"Look - inside," said Michelle while clutching her side and leaning up against the wall.

AJ nodded and opened the door, "You are such an art geek," she laughed when she realized what the canisters were.

"I can't carry them by myself, and you're all tough so I was hoping you could help," Michelle smiled hopefully.

"Well I'm flattered that you think I'm tough, but there is no way we can handle this by ourselves."

"Should we go get Lily and Kayleigh ?" Michelle asked desperately.

"You're joking right?" I mean Lily and Kayleigh are awesome but I don't think they'd be up for rule breaking on their first day," replied AJ.

"I guess you're right," sighed Michelle.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll beat it out of them eventually," said AJ trying to cheer her up.

"But I really don't want to wait that long. Do you think you're brothers would help us?" Michelle pouted.

"Ugh probably, but that would mean I owe them and I'm really not comfortable with that," said AJ.

"Do you have any other plans?" Michelle asked as she looked longingly at the dust covered paint cans.

"You know," AJ smirked, "the boys don't seem like the goody-goody type."

"The boys? What boys? We know boys?" rambled Michelle confused.

AJ stared at her, "Michelle, the boys in our year. You know, James and Sirius and Peter and Remus."

"Oh right, of course," giggled Michelle.

AJ shook her head, "Come on, we've got a bit longer till dinner and they are still in the common room . . . I think."

The girls ran up the staircase to the portrait, quickly said the password and tumbled into the room. They tip toed over to the first year boys and snuck up behind them.

"Pssst . . .?" whispered Michelle.

The four boys jumped and flipped around.

"Don't do that!" snapped Sirius while trying to catch is breath.

"We need your help," whispered AJ.

"Why are we whispering?" James questioned in a whisper.

"Question. Rules? Are you four willing to break them?" asked AJ, still keeping her voice at a whisper.

"Rules were meant to be broken," smirked James.

"Depends on the rule," Remus interjected before James could sell their souls.

"Its nothing bad, we just need some more muscles that's all," Michelle said.

"Huh?" Sirius said confused.

"Ugh just follow us," said AJ getting sick of the whispering.

The boys looked at each other, shrugged, and walked out after the girls.

"You want us to help you steal paint?" Peter muttered, mostly to himself.

"Well its just sitting here, all by itself. I could give it a home," Michelle explained.

"You are the strangest girl," said Sirius.

AJ punched him in the arm, "Be nice."

"So what's the plan? asked James, ready to do anything.

"Well we need to get it to the Gryffindor tower ... and then do you think we could hide it in your dorm for a few days until we figure out what to say to Lily and Kayleigh?" AJ asked.

You-you want to hide the evidence in our dorm?" Remus said unsure.

"I promise it won't be long. Please Remus, please?" begged Michelle.

Remus looked at Michelle's light brown eyes and his resolve failed.

"It's okay by me."

"I have no problem."

"Works for me."

"Lets get started already."

The girls squealed in victory and gave a boy a hug. James hugged them back, Sirius stood ridged, and Remus and Peter blushed furiously.

It took the six of them two trips to get all of the paint into the boys dorm and some how they managed to not in seen by anyone and in the common room, no one cared enough about a bunch of firsts years to question their antics.

* * *

Lily was sprawled out on her bed, flicking through her transfiguration text.

"Hey Kayleigh ," she called out, "Do you know where AJ and Michelle are?"

"Not a clue," Kayleigh grunted while stacking her many books on her shelving.

"Wow, how many books do you have?" asked Lily while rolling off her bed and walking over to Kayleigh.

"I brought a bunch from home, but these are mostly ones I haven't finished reading yet and a few of my favorites," the brunette replied.

"_Newt Scamander: And How He Found The Beasts, Uric and How He Became Odd, How the Wizards Council Became the Ministry of Magic_. You like autobiographies and historical novels I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, well those and "How-To" books," replied Kayleigh.

"Don't you like fiction?" Lily asked curiously.

"No, not really. Its never appealed to me."

Lily laughed, "That's funny, they are my favorite."

"Really?"

"Uh huh, I absolutely love _Alice in Wonderland_."

"_Alice in Wonderland_?"

"It's a muggle novel by Lewis Carroll, well actually it's a series but still," explained Lily.

"Oh," Kayleigh replied while stuffing her final book into the shelf.

"I know you said you don't care for fiction, but your welcome to borrow it if you want," Lily offered.

Kayleigh smiled, "That's so nice, thank you."

Lily opened her mouth to reply but Michelle and AJ came barging through their door.

"Jeez there you two are! Are you coming to dinner or not!" exclaimed AJ before running back down the stairs with Michelle in tow.

"_There we are?_ I'm pretty sure that we weren't the one who were missing for hours," Kayleigh muttered to herself.

Lily laughed at her friend and linked their arms, "Come on, I'm starving."

The next morning started much like the last one had, James was up at five AM, Lily called AJ by her full name to get her to move, Sirius cursed at James for waking him up and Michelle once again claimed that she was banning mornings when she became the world dictator.

The eight of them came down their individual staircases at the same time and trudged to the Great Hall in silence . . . well almost silence, James was rambling on about something that no one else was awake enough to pay attention to.

When they arrived at the Gryffindor table they all sat down in one long row and piled their plates with eggs, pancakes, and toast. AJ found the sugar canister and put several scoop fulls in her pumpkin juice and on top of her french toast.

"You know baby sister, you are going to rot your teeth out," Jason said smirking.

"I didn't even notice you were their," muttered AJ, "And they don't have soda available here, so I have to make due with what I've got."

Jason rolled his eyes and started talking to the girl who told Lily and Kayleigh how to wake AJ up the day before. Her black curls were pulled back in a tight pony and she seemed to be only half way paying attention to what Jason was saying. AJ stuck her tongue out at her oblivious older brother and out another scoopful of sugar in her pumpkin juice.

"Kayleigh, what is our first class today?" Michelle asked, her chin resting on her first.

"It's potions, but today it says we have it with all four houses," Kayleigh replied.

That caught Remus' attention, "Really? That's weird."

"Hey Jase ... Jason ... JASON MATTHEWS!" yelled AJ.

"Holy hell AJ, what are you screaming about?" snapped Jason.

"You weren't paying attention, so I had to restart to drastic measures. Now do you know why potions has all four houses?"

"Because Slughorn hates teaching first years, the potions are too boring for him and he absolutely hates the first class, so he combines just this class so he doesn't have to go through it twice."

"Oh okay then," said AJ.

"Brat," Jason muttered before turning back to the girl and AJ made a face at him.

The girl noticed and snickered, "You know, you really should be nicer to your little sister," she said to him.

"She's right, you really should be nicer to your little sister," agreed AJ.

The girl laughed, "My name is Julie."

"I'm AJ, and I do not understand why you talk to my prat of a brother," AJ replied bluntly.

Julie laughed but Jason glowered at his little sister, "Piss off _Alyssa_."

AJ stated him down, "Are you sure you want to start this Jason Owen Matthews."

"Well Alyssa Jean Matthews, I'm pretty sure that you will lose this war, so I believe the real question is, are you ready for defeat?"

"Alyssa Jean? No wonder why you go by AJ," Sirius said out of no where.

"AJ glared at him, "Bite me Black."

"Language," Jason said in a patronizing voice.

AJ was getting up to lunge across the table when Hayden wrapped his arms around her middle.

"What the hell are you two arguing about now?" asked Hayden, too used to his siblings antics to be surprised.

"_Your_ sister is just being a brat again."

"Oh sure blame everything on me! You are such a prat!" snapped AJ.

"Damnit you two, knock it off. I hate playing the middle man," grunted Hayden finally letting go of AJ once her was sure she wasn't going to Superman across the table.

"Then don't," Jason said as if it were that obvious.

"And have you two going at it in the middle of breakfast? Mum would slaughter me, that is of course after she finished with the two of you," Hayden explained keeping his own temper in check.

Neither AJ nor Jason had a reply for this .

"Yeah, exactly. Now both of you quit your bitching and finish your breakfast."

"Okay Hay, I love you dearly but you really just sounded like mum there," said AJ.

"Do you want to borrow my broom still?" scowled Hayden.

"Okay I'm sorry! I take it back!" apologized AJ quickly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Hayden said smugly.

"She is right though, you did sound like mum," snickered Jason.

"Ugh," and Hayden stalked off to the other end of the table.

Jason and AJ gave each other a look and laughed at their brother.

"Aw poor Hayden," said Julie, "You guys shouldn't be so mean."

"That wasn't even close to being mean," smirked AJ.

Jason snickered , "Come on Julie, we've got Ancient Runes."

The two of them left and AJ turned back to her friends.

"So I'm really not excited about potions," she stated.

"Me either," agreed Remus.

"Oh come on, It'll be fine," said Lily optimistically

After breakfast the entire Hogwarts first year students headed off to the dungeons with Remus and AJ trailing behind them.

Professor Slughorn was already in the classroom when the students arrived and he welcomed them in cheerfully.

"Hello students, come on in and take a seat."

The tables were set up in pairs and the Gryffindor students doubled up and sat down.

"Now I like to start out the year with just throwing you kids in and seeing your potential for potion making. So today we will be making a fairly simple potion used to cure boils. You will find the instructions on page 22. Oh and I have made a list of pairings already. And they are as followed; Sirius Black and Bao Yang, Amelia Bones and Shelby Dahl, Daniel Tucker and Abigail Goble, Peter Pettigrew and Kristen Boyko, Monica Harris and Prudence Montgomery, Rachel Langston and Devin Angelov, Kayleigh Rocchi and Brittney McMahon, Rebecca Atkins and Corey Snidow, Sam Jenkins and Brenna Leon, William Castings and Maddison Campbell, James Potter and Cole Parker, Remus Lupin and Alyssa Matthews, Isabella Cooper and Maxwell Garrick, Lily Evans and Severus Snape, Blake Long and Cassandra Rosten, and finally Jasper Nott and Michelle Jones."

The students shuffled around shyly and introduced themselves to their partners.

AJ flopped down next to Remus, "So are you any good with potions? Because my mum has tried to teach me a few things and I suck."

Remus cringed, "Lovely, I'm awful at them. My mum tried to teach me as well . . . not a pretty site."

"This is going to be interesting," muttered AJ while looking into the empty cauldron and Remus nodded in agreement.

"Hey mate, I'm Cole Parker," said a Ravenclaw boy with neat black hair and hazel eyes.

* * *

"James Potter," replied the Gryffindor and held out his hand.

"So have you ever made a potion before?" Cole asked.

James shook his head, "Not by myself, you?"

Cole shook his head as well.

"Oh well, how bad can it be?" James said optimistically.

Cole laughed, "I like the way you think."

* * *

Michelle skipped over to the table were the boy by the name of Jasper Nott sat.

"Hello, my name is Michelle," she stated happily.

"Nott," the boy grunted.

"Well it's nice to meet you . . . Nott. Could I by any chance call you Jasper? It sounds much nicer," Michelle asked.

Nott gave her a look, "Why are you tanking to me?"

"Um, well because you're my partner," said Michelle confused at the boys reaction.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am a Slytherin."

"Well yeah, the green and silver kind of tipped me off about your house."

"And you're a Gryffindor."

"Duh, hence the gold and scarlet."

"So we don't get along!" the boy burst out, getting fed up of the girls fake stupidity. After all, everyone knew about the conflicts between these particular houses.

"How do you know? We've never talked to each other before!"

Nott looked at Michelle like she had rocks in her head, "Gryffindors and Slytherins don't get along. We don't talk. And we are not on first name status."

"Well that is ridiculous. Why don't Slytherins and Gryffindors get along?" Michelle asked starting to get annoyed with the boys attitude.

"We just . . . don't . . . It's always been that way. Didn't your parents teach you anything?" growled Nott.

"I only live with my mum and she's a muggle," said Michelle honestly.

"Oh . . . You're a muggle born," Nott said, his voice dropping.

Michelle raised her eyebrow at the reddish-brown haired boy, "Is that a problem?" she asked in a defensive tone.

"Oh um no," Nott said, not wanting to start a fight with the red-head in front of him, she had at least an inch on him.

"Good, now I'm going to call you Jasper and I expect you to call me Michelle. Okay?" Michelle ended in a sentence that both of them knew wasn't really a question.

Jasper gave into Michelle's demand, "Whatever, fine. We better get started."

Michelle grinned in victory, flipped open her text to page twenty-two , and started talking to Jasper about nothing in particular.

* * *

Kristen Boyko sat next to Peter Pettigrew twirling her frizzy blonde hair in silence.

'Why is she not talking? Don't girls like to talk? I mean AJ is always talking and even Kayleigh is more chatty than this.' Peter thought to himself, 'I wonder if it's me?"

Peter took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "H - h - hi, I'm Peter."

Kristen blushed, "Hello, I'm Kristen."

"Would you like to get started?" Peter asked, wishing she was less shy and more like the girls in his house.

"Okay," Kristen whispered.

Peter sighed, "I don't mean this to be rude or anything, but, are you always this shy or is it me?"

Kristen, once again, turned beat red, "I'm sorry, it's not you. I promise, I'm shy around everyone."

"Well I promise I'm really nice, "Peter gave her an encouraging smile, "You can even ask the girls in my house. They all seem to like me."

Kristen's cheeks were still tinged with pink, but she gave him a grateful smile.

* * *

Sirius stayed at the desk he sat down at the beginning of the class, his legs propped up on the table. He was waiting for his assigned partner to join him. He closed his eyes, bored already of his potions class. He had almost managed to fall asleep when his legs were shoved off top of the desk.

"Well that was rude," he grunted.

"Did you not hear me asked who 'Sirius Black' was?" snapped an Asian girl, her inky black hair tied up in two french braids.

"Well obviously you figured it out all on your own," Sirius smirked.

"Only because you were the last person left in the room," she said already disliking the Gryffindor.

"You're a smart cookie," laughed Sirius, this girl was getting worked up over nothing.

"Listen up, I am not making this potion by my self and letting you receive a grade you didn't earn."

"Calm down, when did I say I wasn't going to help?"

"Whatever," grumbled the girl and she started pulling out the ingredients for the potion.

Sirius shook his head, wondering if she was always this angry.

"My name is Sirius ," he said as politely as he could muster.

"Yeah, I know," the girl said slicking up a twig of some sort.

Sirius took in a deep breath through his nose, "Can I ask what your name is?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "It's Bao."

Sirius made a face at the back of her head and dug out his own potions book. He had a feeling that this was going to be a dull class, but hopefully he just found a way to keep himself amused.

'I wonder how long it would take her to set her hair on fire?" he mused to himself.

* * *

"Hello, I'm Lily."

"Severus, look if you just sit there and don't touch anything I'll have this done fast and properly," said the boy who was already cutting up something that looked like a branch from the oak tree in front of her house.

"Excuse me?" she said defensively, "I'm not ignorant and I demand that you let me help."

Severus looked up from his work in shock, "I don't mind. I'm really good at potions. We'll get a good grade, I swear."

"It's not about the grade, well it is but it's also not fair for you to do all the work. Besides I would like to learn how to do it myself."

" . . . Alright then . . . here you can finish chopping this up," Severus said astonished that the girl cared enough about her schooling to help.

"Thank you," Lily said firmly and took the knife from his outstretched hand.

Severus shook his head and started to crush up the beetles wings.

* * *

"See! It says right here _'Slice the daisy root' _not dice," snapped a headstrong Ravenclaw girl by the name of Brittney McMahon.

"I know what it says, I am literate," Kayleigh said while crossing her arms, "But trust me, dicing them works better. I've read it in another portions book."

"Quit trying to fail us! We **are** going to follow the books instructions."

"Girls, girls, is there a problem?" asked Professor Slughorn.

"Kayleigh doesn't want to do the potion by the book!" yelled Brittney before Kayleigh could get a single word in.

"Oh don't be so dramatic! I merely stated that diced daisy root works better than sliced daisy root for this particular potion!" Kayleigh yelled back in response.

"See! Can I please have a new partner, one who is more dedicated to their education."

"More dedicated to their education?!" screeched Kayleigh in shock.

"Now girls, as mush as I love having students who are interested in my subject, I can't have you two involved in a screaming match inside my classroom," said Professor Slughorn, "And for the record, Ms. Rocchi is correct, diced is better than sliced."

Kayleigh grinned in triumph.

"Have you read that in another book? Or did your parents teach it to you?" questioned Professor Slughorn.

"I read about it in _Common Potions for Common Ailments_ sir. My parents have a very large collection of potion texts," Kayleigh proudly stated.

"Well done! Nothing is better than going out and doing a bi t of your own research. Five points to Gryffindor," praised Slughorn.

Before Kayleigh could truly enjoy her first academic ego boost, a blast from the back of the room startled the class.

"Sorry!" coughed a black faced AJ while both her and Remus tried to clear the smoke away from their table.

Slughorn fought a smile, "Well students, pour some of your potion into a vial. It doesn't matter if you're done yet. Please put both yours and your partner's name on it. Then you all may leave."

Remus stared at the lumpy black mass that was supposedly a potion.

"Should we even bother?" Remus questioned AJ.

"And empty vial might get us a better grade," she responded quite seriously.

Lily's hand shot up into the air, "But sir, the class isn't over yet."

"Yes I know, but over the years I've learned that once we've had an explosion, more tend to follow. So I will run over your potions and we will discuss the results in our next class. Of course by then the four houses will be split into twos," SLughorn gave each pair of students a via; and sat behind this desk, "Just bring them on up to me and you may leave."

Slowly the students cleaned up their work and left a sample with their potions professor.

"Well that was quite enjoyable," said Lily as she bounced out of class, "my partner knew a lot about the subject already."

"My partner was a little grumpy at first, but I think I've fixed it," Michelle cheerfully stated.

"Well my partner was barking mad," scowled Sirius.

"Aw, she couldn't have been that bad," AJ nudged his shoulder with hers.

"You have no idea."

AJ laughed.

"My partner was pretty cool, he likes Puddlemere United. So he's good in my book," said James wanting to be part of the conversation.

"Puddlemere United? You're joking right? Please tell me you do NOT support Puddlemere," AJ said her tone changing from happy to threatening in seconds.

"Duh, who else would I support?" James said oblivious to the fact that she was currently plotting ways to cause him physical harm.

"What's wrong with Puddlemere?" Remus asked his potions partner.

"You like them too?!" she yelled in shock.

"Remus took a step back, "Yes, calm down."

"Please, for the love of all things Quidditch, tell me the rest of you people don't support Puddlemere?" AJ turned to the rest of their group.

"I don't know anything about Quidditch," Michelle said quickly.

"Me either," Lily agreed.

AJ turned on Kayleigh, Sirius, and Peter.

"Well I'm not particularly fond of Quidditch, but I do have a slight soft spot for the Montrose Magpies," Kayleigh said softly not wanting to get yelled at.

"Well it's better than Puddlemere I guess," grumbled AJ, "How about you two?"

Peter gulped, "Um I don't feel comfortable answering that question."

"Oh Peter not you too?! Sirius you're my last hope."

"Falmouth Falcons," he stated simply.

"Alright, that's not bad . . . respectable even," AJ started breathing carefully through each word.

"And who do you support Matthews?" James asked crossly, insulting his team was not an act to be forgiven easily.

"The Wasps of course," AJ said it as if he should already know that.

"Oh they're pretty good too," said Remus.

"Traitor," muttered James.

"So how was potions for everyone else?" Michelle asked quickly, trying to avoid any Quidditch cause bloodshed.

"I received five points for Gryffindor!" Kayleigh proudly announced.

"Wow, really?" Lily asked.

"Yup. My partner got upset over it thought. But is it really my fault she was wrong? OUCH!"

Brittney slammed her shoulder into Kayleigh's.

"Well that was rude," said Michelle.

"Watch it!" AJ yelled at her back.

"I think your partner hates you more than my partner hates me," laughed Sirius.

"How was your partner Peter?" Kayleigh asked as she rubbed her shoulder.

"She was nice, very shy but nice."

"Personally I think I got the best partner," said AJ, "After all, who else got to blow up a cauldron.

Remus flushed.

"How did that happen by the way?" questioned Lily.

"Not a clue," the said together.

"I think it was brilliant, got us out of class early and everything!" exclaimed James.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Glad we could do something useful," mumbled Remus, mostly to himself.


	7. And So It Begins

**Authors Note: Yep it's been just short of a decade and we are completely aware that we suck, and what's even sadder is that we've been working on this chapter literally since we posted chapter 6...and so far chapter 7 is our least favorite, but here it is.**

**Chapter 7: And So It Begins**

_It's gonna get a lot worse__  
Before it gets any better  
If any, if ever_

_**-Mury**_

James and AJ were jittery all though out the lunch period, and while their excitement was rubbing off on some of their friends, not all of them were being affected.

"Will you guys please stop twitching?! I'm trying to concentrate!" snapped a frazzled Kayleigh as she frantically flipped through the pages of her how-to book for beginner flyers.

"Kayleigh, this book won't help you," AJ snatched the book from the brunette's hands, "Flying is something you have to figure out on your own."

"AJ! Give me my book back!" panicked Kayleigh as she reached for the book.

"This is for your own good, I promise."

"Matthews! If you don't give me my book back I swear to Merlin…" threatened Kayleigh.

AJ dropped the book in shock, "Did Kayleigh just loose her temper?"

"You know, I think she did," Michelle said through a mouthful of pumpkin juice and Lily nodded in agreement.

"Ahh!" AJ threw her arms around a surprised Kayleigh, "I'm so proud of you!"

"You lot have got to be the _oddest_ girls I have ever met," muttered Sirius under his breath

Michelle stuck her tongue out at him while Lily raised her eyebrow.

"The boy who has made a fort out of his lunch food is calling us odd?"

Sirius looked down at his plate and flushed slightly.

"Its art, and no one asked your opinion," he snapped.

"What about art?" asked Michelle suddenly.

"Nothing Shell, don't worry about it," Lily told her.

Michelle frowned but went back to her lunch. Lily glared at Sirius and turned her back to him, the last thing she needed was for Michelle to go on another hour long tangent about the history and different forms of art.

"HAYDEN! There you are!" screamed AJ as she ran towards her brother, "Where have you been? Jeez, I have flying after lunch and I need your broom! Or else I'm going to have to use the ancient tree branches that this school calls brooms."

"Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you can be kind of a snob," Hayden teased.

"Haydennnnnnn," whined AJ.

Hayden snickered at his little sister, "Alright come on my broom is in my dormitory."

The Matthews siblings took off toward the Gryffindor Tower, while James glared at their back.

"God I wish I had an older sibling…now I have to use the stupid school brooms," he grumbled.

Remus shook his head at his roommate and turned to Peter, "So are you excited for flying?"

"Mostly yes…I am kind of nervous though. I've never done it before," Peter mumbled around his roast beef sandwich.

"Really? Aren't you a pureblood?" Remus asked confused. Magical children were always taught to fly at a young age, even he'd been on a broom before and he's only half.

"Oh…um…well…you see…my…mother is…really protective," Peter stuttered out a lie, not wanting to talk about his living arrangements.

Remus nodded in response and focused his attention back to his plate and Peter did the same.

After lunch the Gryffindors (minus AJ, she hadn't returned back to lunch) started walking out to the Quidditch field. James practically running ahead with Sirius not far behind, Kayleigh now had Lily reading over her shoulder, and Remus was telling Michelle and Peter about his very slim knowledge of flying. They all walked up to their professor, he was a tall man with dirty blonde hair and grey eyes. His arms were crossed and his foot was tapping in impatience, which could possibly be due to the tiny girl chattering next to him.

"So you see, me using my brothers broom isn't really breaking any rules because I don't own it I'm just _borrowing_ it," nattered on AJ.

The professor rubbed his temples, "Whatever you can use it just get away from me."

AJ grinned and skipped off to wear James was carefully inspecting the school brooms, trying to find the best one. When he noticed her shadow he maturely ignored her and stalked off to where Remus and Peter were standing (they just grabbed the first brooms they found).

AJ smirked at his back and bounced off to where her roommates stood holding their brooms awkwardly. Kayleigh was glaring at hers with her nose all wrinkled up, Lily was looking at hers cautiously, and Michelle had sat on the ground and pulling out markers until Lily noticed and took them away from her.

"But-but!"

"No defacing school property," answered Lily firmly.

"Well you're no fun at all," pouted Michelle.

"Do you really want to spend your money on buying the school a new broom? Or would you rather spend it on some more art supplies?" Lily asked Michelle who was still sitting cross legged on the grass.

"I was just going to brighten the broom up, it looks so sad," replied Michelle while looking at the battered school broom.

"Shell, sweetie, the broom is an inanimate object. It has no opinion on its day," Lily told Michelle, although she silently agreed that the broom HAD seen better days.

Michelle sighed heavily but put her markers back into her bag, and then she cupped her chin in her hands waiting for Professor Kisler to start the class.

"Alright listen up, if you've flown before and didn't end up breaking your neck raise your hand."

James, AJ, Sirius, Remus, all four boys of the Slytherin house, and two of the three girls from Slytherin raised their hands.

"Alright, you ten go over towards the west side of the field and don't kill each other, as for the remaining four we'll go towards the east."

Isabella Cooper was the Slytherin girl who hadn't been on a broom before and she seemed to acknowledge Kayleigh in not quite a friendly manner but it wasn't out right rude. Michelle looked at the girls' shiny black hair and took a small side step closer to Lily, the girl made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Alright girls, I'm not really expecting you to be amazing flyers but it's really not that difficult. Put your right hand over your broom and in a firm voice shout "up!"

The girls, along with Peter complied; it took Michelle only twice before her broom jumped into her hand and her grin seemed almost too wide for her face. Both Lily's and Peter's jumped into their hands at around four tries but both Kayleigh and Isabella were having difficulties.

"Come on ladies; be firm and confident in your abilities. If you can't control the broom how on earth do you think you'll be able to manage your wand?" snapped Professor Kisler.

Kayleigh glared at the rude Professor and Isabella gave him a look that could freeze fire. Finally both girls' brooms wobbled unsteadily into their hands.

"Finally, now swing your leg over the broom and give a light push off of the ground," stated Professor Kisler while he looked over at the other group of students who were happily flying around each other.

The group of inexperienced flyers managed to push of simultaneously from the ground and hover a few feet.

"Alright now grip your broom handle firmly but not too tight and lean forward _slightly._"

Isabella, Lily, Kayleigh, and Peter heeded his advice and barely leaned forward at all, just enough to feel a slight wind in their hair, whereas Michelle was getting bored and wanted AJ to teach her some things shot forward towards the other students. Fortunately she managed to stay on her broom and she even managed to stop herself from plowing into Remus and a Slytherin girl with caramel colored hair.

"You're a natural!" exclaimed AJ as she flew over to her red headed friend.

"Umm…a-are you alright?" Remus mumbled to the Slytherin girl who was trying to catch her breath from her close encounter with Michelle.

"I think so; it was more unexpected than anything but she didn't hit me." She looked at his white face and laughed lightly, "Are _you_ okay? You seem sort of pale."

"Oh um I'm fine, just startled." He laughed nervously, "It's not every day you almost get rammed by a girl on a broomstick.

She laughed "True. So what' your name?" she asked.

"Remus, Remus Lupin," he replied.

"Well aren't you going to ask mine?" she giggled after an awkward pause.

"Oh right! Uh what's your name?" he asked embarrassed at forgetting his manners.

"I'm Rachel Langston," she giggled at Remus' shy nature, it was sort of cute in a puppy dog way.

"It's nice to meet you," he mumbled quietly not looking her in the eye.

Rachel shook her head at him and giggled, "Nice to meet you too," before she flew off to talk to her roommate.

Lily slowly flew over towards Peter, noticing that he was the only one who wasn't flying around like a maniac and Remus joined them not too long after.

"So…what do you think about flying?" Peter asked Lily.

"I think that I'm never going to get the hang of this," she said while looking at the ground.

"Don't look at the ground, it will make you feel even worse," advised AJ from above them.

Lily looked up at AJ and nodded, "You sure?"

"Positive!" she yelled before taking off after James.

Finally Kayleigh and Isabella wobbled over to them, looking so unsteady that even James held still long enough to watch them.

"Wow, I've never seen anyone so uncoordinated on a broom before," AJ bluntly stated.

"Gee thanks AJ, that's exactly what I needed to hear right now," snapped Kayleigh.

* * *

After all of their classes for the day the eight Gryffindors were back in their common room; the boys were tucked away in a corner discussing something in hushed voices while the girls were crowded on a couch managing to talk about nothing the way only girls can manage.

"So honestly, what did you guys think of flying?" AJ finally asked. She'd been dying to do it but Kayleigh looked really bad after the class and Lily didn't seem like herself either.

"I loved it!" exclaimed Michelle excitedly.

"I really don't think it's for me," Lily said honestly. . . she really preferred her feet on the ground.

Kayleigh just glared at AJ for bringing the subject up.

"I love that you are now comfortable enough with us to get openly annoyed," laughed AJ and soon enough the other three joined her.

Meanwhile, tucked in a corner of the common room the four Gryffindor boys were huddled together arguing in hushed voices.

"I'm just saying that it's rude…I mean we told her we'd keep it safe," Remus whispered to his darker haired roommates.

"Well…she just wanted it so that it wouldn't go to waste and we'd be using it so it's not wasteful," said James sure of himself.

"Your logic does make any sense," said Remus, his voice rising slightly.

"SHH!" Peter whispered.

"I say we vote then, that's _logical_," said James snootily to Remus.

Remus opened his mouth to argue but then realized that it actually was a logical compromise, "Alright fine, we'll vote."

"All in favor of using whatever supplies we come across to further our career as pranksters, say aye," announced James.

Both him and Sirius said aye automatically, and turned to stare at Peter.

"Well. . ." said James.

Peter looked at his friends and shrugged his shoulders "Alright, I'm in. . . I say aye."

"YES! Majority rules," yelled James.

"Will you be quiet, I really don't want to get caught," grumbled Remus.

"Well, are you with us?" asked Sirius.

Remus looked at his roommates hopeful faces and caved, "Yeah, I'm in."

James' grin was almost too big for his face. The four boys all ran up the stairs to their dormitory to finish their plotting without the inconvenience of worrying about being overheard.

AJ noticed them scurrying up the stairs, "I wonder what they're up to?"

Lily followed her gaze, "Ugh who cares," and Kayleigh nodded in agreement and AJ shrugged her shoulders as a way of saying 'yeah good point.'

* * *

The next morning started out normal…well as normal as things ever were for the young Gryffindors, which tended to include a lot of yelling, name calling, and general aggravation. Breakfast seemed the same as any other day; eggs, bacon, and the revelation that first year boys cannot go a morning without spewing pumpkin juice. Then the mail came which was the first sign that today was going to be anything but typical.

Lily was eating her toast when her barn owl, Arcamedies landed in front of her with two letters attached to his ankle. She gave him a bit of her toast as she took the letters from him. He cooed in thanks and flew off for a nice nap.

"Ooo, what did you get Lily?" asked Michelle.

"Looks like a letter from my parents and one from my sister," she replied.

She opened the one from her parents first which was full of _I love you's, I miss you's, _and other overused parental phrases. She smiled to herself, while she was ecstatic to be at Hogwarts, she really did miss her parents. She finished a bit more of her breakfast before she opened up the letter from her sister. . .they hadn't parted on the best of terms but Lily was hoping that they would be able to move past it, after all, Petunia was her older sister, she was suppose to be there for her no matter what, right? She finally opened up the envelope and unfolded the piece of lined paper, the same kind that she had used in her muggle school. Slowly her eyes scanned the letter, reading line by line, and her eyes started to fog at the words that were written.

Kayleigh noticed Lily's expression falling while she read her letter, "Are you alright? Did something happen?" she asked concerned.

Lily stopped reading and shoved the paper in her bag before stuttering out, "Uh yeah-yes I-I'm fine."

Kayleigh tried to reply but the sudden scream from the far end table interrupted her. Every single Hogwarts student looked to the Slytherin table eager to witness what had caused the disruption in their daily routine.

The entire table was covered in red paint; girls were screaming to the high heavens about their clothes and hair, boys were spitting and flinging paint around them trying unsuccessfully to get the scarlet liquid off. A boy was trying to shake off the paint but only managed to throw out his arm and hit a house mate who in turn grabbed a hand-full of paint and flung it at him, but before the confrontation could escalate any further hundreds of gold feathers fell onto the students.

The rest of the Hogwarts student population were roaring with laughter, many Gryffindors were clinging to each other to keep from falling down. In the midst of the chaos, no one noticed four boys trying to sneak out except a certain Gryffindor tomboy.

AJ nudged Michelle and motioned her to look at the end of the table, the red head followed her gaze and her jaw dropped. She began to get to her feet but before she was fully standing AJ yanked her back down and with a smirk whispered, "We'll get them later."

With an intensely serious look, Michelle asked, "Do you promise?"

"On Quidditch."


	8. And We Got Off On The Wrong Foot

Authors Note: Oh finally, chapter 8. Please review we would really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to us; if it did we wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

**Chapter 8: And We Got Off On The Wrong Foot… **

_Can you feel it now? _

_These walls that they put up _

_To hold us back _

_Will fall down _

_It's a revolution_

_**-Change**_

_**--Taylor Swift**_

By the time lunch had rolled around every trace of red paint was gone and only a few random gold feathers remained throughout the castle. Michelle and AJ had told Kayleigh and Lily of their suspicions about their male counterparts being the cause of the morning's fiasco.

"You need to tell Professor McGonagall," Kayleigh repeated for the third time since the start of the conversation.

"Where's the fun in that?" AJ questioned.

Rolling her eyes Lily said, "AJ, not everything is supposed to be fun."

AJ slumped and crossed her arms, "But . . . I promised Michelle that we would have our revenge."

"Maybe Kayleigh and Lily are right," said Michelle suddenly, not sure if revenge was the right way to go.

AJ's jaw dropped and her eyes were wide, "WHAT?!?! You were the one who was ready to attack them, hell I had to practically sit on your lap so that you didn't murder them with the _entire_ school population as witnesses."

"That is true, I really do want to get them back," Michelle muttered mostly to herself.

"It isn't our place, it wasn't even your paint to begin with, you stole it," Kayleigh lowered her voice to make sure that they weren't overheard.

Along with telling their roommates about the prank, they also informed them of how the boys came across the paint. But to do that, they also had to tell them how THEY came across the paint. Lily and Kayleigh wasted no time in telling them that it was a very bad idea to steal the paint and that it was an even worse idea in bringing in the boys.

"Besides we can't rat them out anyway, if we did that to them they would waste no time in ratting us out too," said AJ.

Michelle looked up from her plate with a smile, "We can do it anonymously, that way we can still do 'the right thing' and we can still get away with it, which can be seen as a victory in our favor."

Lily grinned at the red head, "Michelle, you are brilliant."

"I suppose that would work," sighed AJ, "I mean it's not the _greatest_ thing I've ever heard of but it will do, I suppose."

"Finally, you see reason," muttered Kayleigh and AJ stuck her tongue out in response.

That day at Transfiguration was when Kayleigh saw the opportunity to seek revenge/do the right thing. When Professor McGonagall asked her to pick up everyone's essays she scribbled a note and slid it into the middle of the stack. Making sure no one saw her of course, no need to end up getting detention for something she wasn't even a part of, and set the pile on the corner of the strict professor's desk.

"I took care of it," Kayleigh whispered to her roommates after class.

"Took care of what?" asked Michelle confused.

"I slipped a note in between the essays, so we don't have to worry about the paint ordeal anymore."

"Good, now we can focus on more important things," said Lily a little snappishly and she stalked off to their next class.

"What's her deal?" asked AJ.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think it might have to do with a letter she got this morning," replied Kayleigh.

"Well we're going to have to figure it out later because we're going to be late for class and we have Defense Against the Dark Arts," Michelle chimed in.

"Good point."

* * *

That evening after dinner the four boys were lounging on the common room furniture when they caught their first glimpse of the Gryffindor Head of House at full force.

"Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin! Get over here, now!"

Four heads shot up at the call of their names, then instinctively dropped back down at the tone in her voice.

"Now!"

The boys immediately jumped up at her command.

"…Yes?" James said cautiously.

"Theft, destruction of school property, public humiliation, unhealthy house rivalry, interruption of a school meal, do I need to say more? I have never seen such poor conduct in a Gryffindor house member."

"Never? Really? Does that mean they got away with more stuff?" Sirius interjected, he then had to muffle a cry of pain as Remus stamped on his foot.

McGonagall's nostril's flared, "I try to be lenient with first years, especially at the beginning of term, but this is unacceptable."

"That will be fifteen points from Gryffindor, and all four of you will attend detention for the next three nights after dinner. Report to my office tomorrow evening and I strongly suggest you think about how you want to spend your time for the next seven years."

She turned her heel and stalked out of the portrait hole.

The boys heard a quiet giggling coming from the stairs and looked up to see the four girls sitting on the stairs whispering to themselves looking far too happy.

"They wouldn't? Would they?" Peter said while still looking up the staircase.

"No, they didn't. They couldn't have… Could they?" said Remus skeptically.

"Oh, Merlin they did!" James whispered furiously.

"This. Is. War," Sirius declared venomously.

Remus stared at his roommate, "You're kind of a cliché aren't you?"

* * *

The next morning Lily woke up earlier than usual and decided to take advantage of the unusual quiet and reread her favorite novel, _Alice in Wonderland_. Just as she was getting immersing herself in wonderland, the tornado that is James Potter came flying into the common room.

Lily looked up, startled, and narrowed her eyes at the boy who had broken her concentration.

James stopped in mid step, and cocked his head at the oddity of someone being awake this early.

"Why are you awake?" He asked confused.

" . . . Because I am? I don't know, I just woke up early," Lily replied, silently willing him to leave her alone to read.

"Brilliant, no one is ever up right now, and if you're up that means I have someone to hang out with, so what are you reading? Are you usually up this early? If you are do you just stay in your dorm? If you do then you should start coming down and hanging out with me! Of course some of the time Sirius will tie me to the chair from being too loud, so I'm not always down here and I don't want to leave you alone. Maybe we could set up a system! Like-," James tried to ramble on, but Lily had suddenly cut him off.

"Oh my, you really need to lay off the sugar. I'm going to my room now," Lily said fed up with the ramblings of an eleven year old boy.

"But we need to set up our system . . ." trailed off James.

"NO! I mean, no, no we don't. We don't need a system; I'm NEVER up this early. This will never happen again . . . I promise," Lily said quickly, trying to discourage the boy from spending more time with her.

"But-"

"No buts . . . now just go bug someone else."

"Oh, come on how can you predict when or when not you're going to be up?" James pushed, almost whining.

"Oh, my god! Will you just shut up? Is that all you can do? Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, it's so annoying!"

James stared at the red head in front of him, becoming so irritated at him and he started to laugh at her.

"Have you lost your mind? Why are you laughing?" snapped Lily.

"Because you are so ridiculous, all I wanted was someone to talk to in the mornings and you have a total fit. I didn't know you were so stuck up," James replied bluntly.

"Excuse me? I'm not ridiculous or stuck up. You are just annoying and don't respect peoples space," she said, her face turning more and more red.

James laughed some more, "not only are you ridiculous and stuck up but your defensive too. You shouldn't get so worked up; you'll have grey hair by the time your sixteen."

"You are so RUDE! Do you just say everything that pops in your minimal brain?"

"I'm rude? Who's making the judgmental comments on my brain size," James shot back.

"You started it!"

"Oh that's mature, very witty, brilliant comeback."

"You are so...UGH! There isn't a word for you! Obnoxious doesn't even begin to cover it," and with that Lily stomped up the staircase and slammed her dormitory door.

"Well…that was fun, I wonder if this means I win since she walked away? Eh oh well," James then flopped down on the couch waiting for the next person to come down the stairs.

* * *

The girls started to head towards the Great Hall after the last of their morning classes when Michelle mentioned that she wanted to go down to the pumpkin patch that she had seen at their last flying class.

"Why? It's just pumpkins," Lily said irritably.

"Exactly! HUGE pumpkins, they're amazing," Michelle responded oblivious to the slight snub Lily had just given her.

"Sounds fine to me, but we _have _to go grab some lunch, I'm starving," AJ moaned.

"Quit being so dramatic, AJ," Kayleigh said absentmindedly while searching for something in her back.

"Well we can still go get some sandwiches, and have picnic of sorts," AJ said happily.

"It's not picnic unless you sit down," clarified Kayleigh.

"Shush you, it isn't that important," AJ rolled her eyes.

Kayleigh shook her head but didn't respond.

The girls walked to the Gryffindor table and wrapped a couple sandwiches in some napkins and took off outside.

As the girls walked toward pumpkin patch they chatted about this and that, by the time they made it to the gate Michelle had finished her lunch and took off into the garden.

"Michelle get back here!" yelled Kayleigh.

Michelle giggled in response and went deeper into the maze of pumpkins.

"What is she doing?" asked Lily exasperated.

"Having fun," responded AJ with her mouth full.

"Chew, swallow, talk," Kayleigh reprimanded.

AJ stuck her tongue out with her mouth still full of food.

"Ugh ew that's disgusting," Kayleigh gagged.

"Oh that's so lady-like," Lily grimaced.

"Oh suck it up, I'm going to go track down the spaz. You two stay here and don't get muddy," AJ said sarcastically.

AJ ran down the make-shift trail after the hyper redhead.

"Michelle come back! You are going to get yourself lost!" she yelled.

Kayleigh and Lily stayed by the gate chatting with each other.

"Do you think we should go after them?" Lily asked when the other two were no longer in visual range.

"I'm not sure. . . But I really don't want to go running around in a garden. . ." Kayleigh trailed off.

"Alright, I'll stay with you, and if they aren't back in time to go to class we'll go find a professor." Lily said decisively.

"Good plan."

"Hey! What are yeh doin'?" yelled an exceptionally large man.

Lily took a step back subconsciously at the man's size.

"Uhm, well you see sir, some of our friends ran off into the pumpkins because Michelle thought they were so amazing and AJ ran off after her to try and bring her back and now we're waiting for them to get back and then you came up and asked what we were doing and then I told you and--"

Lily cut Kayleigh off mid-ramble.

"Kayleigh breathe, in out, in out."

Kayleigh nodded and took the other girls advice; she started focusing on her breathing and let Lily take over the conversation.

"I apologize sir, I didn't know we were breaking the rules, but you see our friend Michelle just loves how big the pumpkins are and so we told her that we'd come see them with her. And I thought that we would just look, but Michelle is never that simple and so she took off into the pumpkin patch and then AJ went off after her--"

The man cut off Lily, "It's no' a big deal, I'm fla'ered tha' this Michelle would be so fond of my pumpkins. My name is Hagrid, pleased to meetcha," the large man held out his hand to shake.

"Oh forgive my manners I'm Lily and this is Kayleigh," each girl grabbed one of his large fingers and shook it.

"LILY! KAYLEIGH!"

Michelle came flying out of the pumpkin patch with AJ hot on her heels.

"Look what I found!" she yelled excitedly, while shoving a orange ball of fluff at the two girls.

In Michelle's arms was a small orange kitten purring at the scratches on her ears that she was receiving.

"Isn't she lovely?" murmured Michelle.

"Where did you find her?" asked Lily while she reached out to pet the kitten.

"She was curled up on top of a pumpkin in a patch of sun, Michelle looked at her and kind of got attached as you can see," replied AJ.

"Well what did yeh fin' here?" Hagrid asked, making his presence known.

"Good lord, you are large," said AJ without thinking.

"Alyssa Jean! Apologize!" Lily yelled at her.

"Oh oops, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that you are very tall."

"'S alrigh' thanks fer the apology though. My name is Hagrid; I'm the grounds keeper here at Hogwarts."

"Hello Hagrid, I'm AJ and the girl cooing over the kitten is Michelle."

"Nice to meetcha girls."

"Any chance that the kitten belongs to you?" asked AJ.

"Naw, she's probably jus' a stray."

"Great, you know what that means don't you?" AJ directed the question to her room mates that weren't currently obsessing over an orange fur ball.

"What? What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"We just acquired ourselves a new dorm mascot."

"Huh?" asked Kayleigh confused.

"There is no way that Michelle is going to leave the kitten to live out in the pumpkin patch."

The three girls looked over at Michelle.

"And you can sleep with me on my bed and I'll get you some string to play with, and--" Michelle kept rambling on.

"You are right, we are now living with a kitten," mumbled Lily.

"Well I don't want to be living with detention so we better get going or we are going to be late to class," Kayleigh said firmly.

"You're right, we need to get going," Lily reaffirmed.

"Well, I 'ope ter see yeh soon," Hagrid said.

"Oh I promise we'll stop by to hello," Lily smiled.

After the group exchanged goodbyes, the girls started to walk back to the castle, happy to have had a good lunch.

* * *

When Peter and James noticed that dinner was beginning to end they tried to prolong the inevitable by reducing their consumption speed.

"What are you two doing?" asked Remus confused by his roommate's odd eating habits.

"Hoping that if we take long enough we won't have to go to detention," Peter replied.

"Why? What we did was amazing, we managed to humiliate my cousin in our first week, and we got detention!" Sirius said triumphantly.

The other three boys started at their newly acquired friend.

"You're proud that we got busted? My mother is going to kill me," James said incredulously, "She specifically told me no more pranks."

"James just forget about your Mum, it's not like she can do anything from England," Sirius pointed out.

"You'd be amazed what my mother can do," James told the black haired boy.

"What is she going to do storm in here, grab you by your ear, and ground you? Not likely," Sirius said almost tauntingly.

"I guess you right, what can she do while over there?" James smirked.

"Exactly and why do you care Peter?" Sirius asked.

"I care because I don't want to be scrubbing floors for all of my school years," Peter answered.

"Ugh excuses, I say if we started this we should commit to it," Sirius declared.

"That actually makes sense," Remus mumbled to himself.

"Don't sound so surprised, I am brilliant on occasion," Sirius informed him.

"I guess we might as well have fun while we're here," Peter shrugged.

"I agree, let's take these seven years and show this school what real fun is," James stated.

"Now that we've decided that these detentions are going to remain in our future why don't we go to our first one," Remus told his partners in crime.

The boys stood up together and walked to their transfiguration professor's office.

"Professor McGonagall, we are here to accept our fate," announced James.

The Gryffindor Head of House stared at her first year students, 'Great, exactly what I need, overdramatic eleven year old boys,' she thought to herself.

McGonagall cleared her throat, "Alright boys follow me."

They followed their professor down to the infirmary where Madam Promfrey was patiently waiting for them.

"So these are my helpers for the night," Madam Promfrey said to Professor McGonagall.

"Yes Poppy, this is James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They are excited to help you in whatever you may need tonight."

"Oh good, I need some strong hands to help me clean this place up," she said while looking at the boys.

"What exactly is it that you want us to do?" questioned James.

"Oh you are just going to help me clean up the place, it just needs a good scrub down," Promfrey told him.

"Okay then, can you teach us some cleaning spells?" Sirius asked.

Madam Promfrey chuckled, "On no my dear boy, we do this the muggle way." She waved her wand and buckets with soapy water, rubber gloves, sponges and scrubs appeared.

"Well enough of our chit chatting, let's get started."

McGonagall left as they each walked to a separate bed with their own buckets.

"The muggle way? This is just cruel," snapped Sirius.

"It's a sick, sick joke is what it is," muttered James.

"Come on, sooner we start, sooner we can leave" said Remus dejectedly and snapped on his bright yellow elbow length gloves.

Peter just looked at his cleaning supplied and sighed.

For the next few hours the boys washed, scrubbed, wiped, and rinsed the Hogwarts infirmary down . . . with Sirius adding his own colorful commentary to the process.

"Alright, Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew you may go. Mr. Black please stay behind," Promfrey announced.

"What?" snapped Sirius, "Why?"

"Because of your rude dialogue you can stay and mop up the floor once more before you leave," Promfrey reprimanded him.

Sirius glared at the Hogwarts nurse.

"Go on boys; get back to your dorm."

James, Remus, and Peter looked at Sirius with sympathy.

"Go on, get out of here, I'll meet up with you soon," Sirius told them.

The boys looked at him once more with pity and took off to the Gryffindor tower.

Promfrey handed him a mop and went back to her office.

'Alright lady, this is war . . . you messed with the wrong student,' he thought to himself and as he mopped his thoughts were centered on revenge.

* * *

Lily was sitting in the empty common room staring at the burning fire place, her sister's letter laying in her lap her friends had gone to bed awhile ago, giving up on trying to figure out what was wrong. She didn't want to tell them, she couldn't tell them… I mean how do you inform your new friends that your sister has disowned you? Unable to find a solution she kept staring at the fire, hoping that maybe it would give her the answers she so desperate wanted to hear.

"What are you still doing up?" a voice startled her out of her trance-like state.

She looked up to find none other than Sirius Black staring down on her, looking thoroughly exhausted himself.

"Where have you been?" she asked as she scanned his filthy clothing.

"Detention ran over time, you still didn't answer my question."

"The others got back awhile ago though," she said confused.

"McGonagall hates me," he said simply, "Now what's wrong with you?"

Lily dropped her eyes to the letter and quickly folded it up, "It's nothing, I'm fine."

Sirius looked at the red-head down, trying to figure her out, when he saw something that looked all too familiar. He took a deep breath and sat down nest to Lily.

"Family issues?"

She looked at him a furrowed her brow, "How did you…" she trailed off.

"I am the King of Family issues, no joke. My family is a bunch of loons."

"Oh it can't be that bad," she said.

He laughed, "You want to compare notes?"

She stared at him trying to figure out if he was serious or not.

"You go first," she said finally.

Sirius took a deep breath, "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

Lily nodded her head firmly.

"Alright, when I was five I fell out of a tree and broke my arm and when I started yelling and crying my mother came out to me. Guess what she said?"

"Are you okay?" Lily said unsure.

"Nope, it was more along the lines of, 'Shush you stupid boy, you are going to wake up your brother,'" he said honestly.

"What??"

"Yeah, my mum isn't what you'd call _maternal_."

"That's awful," Lily said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. Now tell me what's wrong . . . there is no way your family is as crazy as mine," Sirius pushed.

"It's just my sister. We used to be really close, I mean she was my best friend . . . but when I got my Hogwarts letter she changed. She doesn't like that I'm a witch and she wrote me a letter and said some mean things . . . it just hurt my feelings is all. But compared to you I have no right to be like this," she explained.

"Of course you have a right to feel like that, just because our family issues are different doesn't mean that yours don't matter. Besides my family is so out there I don't think anyone would really compare."

Lily smiled at the dark haired boy, "Thanks for listening, but do you think you could keep this to yourself?"

"Of course, your secret is safe with me . . . well as long as you keep mine too."

"Absolutely, thanks Sirius."

The two young Gryffindor's sat on the couch for a bit longer staring at the fire enjoying each other's silence.

"Well I'm going to try to get some sleep . . . you going to head up?" Sirius asked.

"In a bit . . . Good night Sirius, thanks for listening," Lily said sincerely.

"Not a problem, next time your family drives you crazy just come to me. I'll see you in the morning," he said.

Lily watched him walk up the stairs until he got to his room. She turned to the letter that was still lying in her lap and reached forward to drop it in the fire and she watched the paper curl up as the flames burnt it to ash.


End file.
